Vengeful Sage!
by lamejoke911
Summary: One decision changed the course of history. Naruto will no longer tolerate the villager's hate and abuse; rather he will send it back tenfold. Learning of the Kyuubi at a young age, being apprenticed and the will to avenge will drive him to greatness unimaginable. Watch as he takes the world by storm. Dark Sharinnegan Naruto. Strong/Powerful! Naruto. Dark Sasuke. NaruMulti.
1. Chapter 1: Beginnings of a Path

**Vengeful Sage**

Chapter 1: Beginnings of a Path

 **Disclaimer: I don't own most of the stuff in this fic, including Naruto, and whatever other things randomly pop up.**

 **AN: The first scene has been added on March 18, 2016.**

In a dark dimly lit room somewhere below the ground, an old man sat behind his mahogany desk, quite upright despite his apparent impairments. Half his face and his right arm were covered in bandages, but that to no extent diminished the poise and sense of power that could be observed from his countenance.

Before him stood a man wearing an eagle shaped mask, garbed in ANBU armor from head to toe. The presence of the animal mask on his face concealed from the world his bland emotionless visage, but his master knew. His master knew that any order his servant was given, he would obey and execute without question. He had trained him himself after all.

"Eagle! You will go to the Redlight District and find a group of civilians who have intoxicated themselves from the festival. You will play upon their hate and suspicion of the Jinchuriki. Given your Kekkei Genkai, it should be child's play. Weave your illusions such that it becomes the most overwhelming thought in their minds. Lead them to the boy, but beware! The boy must live; and remember. Is that clear?"

"Hai, Danzou-sama."

"Make sure you are not discovered. In case you are, abandon the operation. Dismissed."

XXX

On a warm summer evening, a ten year old boy stared into the orange-streaked horizon, watching the sun set into the forest beyond, its shining radiance slowly fading into oblivion. Sitting atop a massive stone head carved into a mountain, he looked down into the village beneath him. The restaurants, the shops, the bakeries – they all reminded him of one fact; he was not wanted. He was hated by the village. Nobody needed or wanted him. He was alone, as he had been all his life, from the very day he was born. In the beginning, he tried. Oh he tried so very hard, to gain the recognition of the villagers, to earn their respect as a fellow human being, if nothing else. But to no avail.

Years ago, he had stopped trying. He had stopped crying too. It would do him no good. The more he tried to socialize with them, the more he was rebuked and rejected, called demon and monster. He hated them. He hated them all, and were it not for a few kind souls, he didn't know what he would do. One of them was an old man who would visit him from time to time, and help him buy stuff from stores that would throw him out. He was the Hokage, he realized a couple years ago – the strongest ninja in the village, someone everyone adored and revered. He wanted to be just like him when he was younger. But then… the academy happened. Even since he turned nine, the old man had entered him into the ninja academy, and his excitement knew no bounds. He finally had a chance to prove himself, to make others realize how great he could be, that he too could become an "embodiment of the will of fire", as the old man put it, whatever that meant.

However, it was not so long after that he realized the futility of his dreams. Whenever he succeeded at something the class was assigned, he would be scorned instead of praised. His assessments would be sabotaged, and he was failed on purpose. During sparring sessions, his teachers would fight at levels no kid his age could ever hope to match, and he would end up being beaten into unconsciousness, where he was dumped unceremoniously in the grounds, left to lie there till he woke up. However, despite these handicaps, he managed to just barely scrape by, and learned to harness his chakra. He learned about shuriken and kunai, and how to use them in a fight. He could shoot a bull's eye from ten feet away, which was pretty impressive in his books. He could use his chakra to henge himself into a perfect replica of almost anyone he knew. In fact, he had even created a technique of his own, where he transformed into a beautiful buxom blonde girl, almost completely naked if not for the technique's residual clouds covering her privates from the rest of the world. And it was quite the formidable jutsu indeed, for this technique was all you needed to bleed any pervert out there into submission – which he learned first-hand after a few trial runs countless souls who were caught in its deadly snare. It worked on the villagers who chased him around the village, shouting for revenge against the demon, it worked against his teachers, it even worked against the old man Hokage, and he was supposed to be the strongest ninja out there.

He was not the best in his class, but neither was he the worst; in fact he liked to think he was one of the better students, only being bested by the likes of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, Shino Aburame and others. That too was partly due to his teachers being completely biased against him, and partly due to his inability to perform the Bunshin no Jutsu, which was supposed to create an illusionary clone of the user, in order to confuse the enemy. But no matter how hard he tried, he could not create a single working clone that was not a devastating failure. In fact, he had already given up on that avenue, and come to terms with the idea that it was impossibility for him. Why, he had no idea… but he didn't really care, because he had something better.

 **Flashback:**

 _Naruto fled the incoming mob as it stormed behind him - chasing him away from the shop he had painted orange overnight - running like his life depended on it (which it did, as a matter of fact). Seeing some bushes to his right, he leapt in, and hid, his head at ground level. Several minutes, he waited like that till he was certain he had lost them. He was almost about to emerge when he heard voices. He peeked out of the bush he was hiding in into the clearing behind it. It was a tall man, probably a jounin from the looks of it, with three kids, each wearing a Konoha Hitai-ate over their foreheads. The shortest one, a boy with short brown hair and a puppy sitting on his head was bouncing up and down in excitement._

" _What cool new jutsu are you gonna teach us today, Sensei?" he asked._

" _I'm sure all of you are already acquainted with the clone jutsu from the academy, now I'm gonna teach you a different type of clone, a solid clone in fact." Turning to the boy, who by the looks of it was an Inuzuka, he said, "Tashegi, since your dominant element is earth, you'll be learning the Tsuchi Bunshin no Jutsu. Same goes for you, Renji." He said to the taller boy._

" _Here are the hand-seals, get to work. I expect you to be able to create at least three solid clones by the end of the week. And no slacking, Renji!" Showing the two the correct sequence of hand-seals, which was pretty short as far as Naruto was concerned, the jounin turned to the last member of the group, indicating for her to follow him towards the river._

" _Maki, you being a water element user, will be learning the Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu, and that's why I brought you here, since the river water will help you train and makes it easier to create water clones for beginners." Showing her the hand-seals, and telling her to start practicing, he walked to do whatever jounin usually do…._

 _Naruto - who hadn't moved a muscle ever since he spotted the team enter the training field - finally relaxed as the jounin left the area. He had found himself a new target._

 **Flashback End:**

Over the next few days, he had practiced and perfected the earth clone jutsu, which he found, to his astonishment, to be far easier and more natural than the regular clone jutsu. By spying on the team again and again, he had even learned the water clone jutsu, watching the girl Maki practicing on it.

However what astonished him most wasn't the ease with which these jutsu came to him, nor was it the fact that these clones were nowhere near as dull looking and dead as his normal clones, rather it was the sheer number of clones he could make. Literally hundreds of clones appeared at his command, and Naruto could barely even feel the drain on his chakra reserves. It was tremendous. This mind-blowing discovery though, remained undiscovered, because Naruto knew exactly what would happen if word spread that the "demon" could summon hundreds of clones to his side at any time. And so, life went on.

Naruto sighed as he ran his hand through his spiky blond hair, opening his eyes to reveal blue orbs the color of the sky. Today was his birthday, but he expected no more than what previous years had brought him, pain and suffering, and a genuine loathing for almost all things Konoha. He got up, and found himself sitting at Ichiraku Ramen five minutes later. After devouring over ten bowls of his favorite miso ramen (I don't think stomach sizes actually differ by that much, but hey, Kishi's the boss!), and leaving the bill on his ever growing tab for the end of the month, the blond headed home, passing through dark side streets to avoid detection by the villagers, who apparently went over the edge with their demon killing tendencies on the day of his birthday, which also turned out to be a festival day, in commemoration of the defeat of the Kyuubi, the nine-tailed demon fox that attacked Konoha ten years ago, exactly the day he was born, in fact.

Now Naruto was far from stupid, and he immediately found it fishy when he put all these facts together, however the most he could conclude was that he was resented for being born on the day of mourning - and as petty as the villagers were, believing in this wouldn't be too far a stretch of the imagination – and the Hokage was quite tight-lipped on the matter.

So it was on one of these dark alleys that he was passing through when he heard a noise, a drunken voice, "Today's the day I avenge my comrades, you filthy demon! Die, die, die. You'll pay for your insolence."

A weight suddenly fell upon Naruto's back, and he doubled over. Just as he was about to stand up and push the weight aside, he felt a piercing pain in his left shoulder, as if a knife had just been stabbed through it, and then wrenched out with no care for the target's life (well that sums it up nicely enough).

As the blond pushed him off, he knew he was bleeding, which was evident from the stains on the ground, but he didn't care. His body was pumping adrenaline and he ran, turning into an aisle and then another till he found himself trapped. With a dead end in front of him, and a drunken killer behind him, he had nowhere to go. However, Naruto was never one to go down without a fight, and the man before him was no more than a common civilian, though his overwhelming height and weight were quite the intimidating factor. Nevertheless, Naruto being Naruto went for a frontal assault, before being stabbed once more, this time through the stomach, and once more between his ribs. However he did manage to uppercut the hulking figure (for him at least) in the chin and knock his feet out from beneath him, before ripping the man's kunai out of his hands and slitting his throat with it.

Within seconds, there were two or three violent jerks, and then all was still. As the adrenaline left him, he grew tired and collapsed onto the man, falling unconscious.

XXX

Naruto awoke to the sound of birds chirping. Peace and quiet, nothing to disturb nature but the sound of people bustling around, taking care of their day to day business. Wait a minute….where was he? As he opened his eyes, he was blinded by the dazzling light coming in from the window. He looked around, taking in the plain white walls and white bed sheets spread out on the bed he lay upon…. Oh he knew where he was; the bane of his short ten-year life, wherein resided the scariest and most cruel brand of professionals known to man, the Konoha Public Hospital. Giving himself a one over, he realized something, he was bandaged all about his torso and shoulders, but he could feel no pain, no wound, nothing. So then why was he here? What day was it?

The day of the festival! His birthday! And then it all came rushing back to him. How he was attacked by a drunken villager in the darkest of alleys in Konoha's Redlight district, how he fled from his assailant until he ran into a dead end, how had stood his ground, how he had so thoughtlessly slit the man's throat…. He should feel ashamed of himself, he thought, but surprisingly, he didn't. After all, he was just defending himself. He hadn't actively sought out the man in order to kill him. Besides, he had deserved it.

Before he could dwell further on this dark train of thoughts, the door opened up to reveal a young woman in a short nurse's outfit, leading the way for an old man wearing the ceremonial robes of the Hokage who entered in behind her. Though his face was set in an uncharacteristic frown, he allowed a slight shadow of a smile to creep into his expression before he resigned himself back to his previous demeanor. This was definitely not a social call.

"Ah, I see you're up and about Naruto-kun, just as usual," he began, breaking him from his morbid train of thought. "How are you feeling now? My ANBU found you bleeding out from several puncture wounds on your body, lying over a dead man who was reported missing for three hours before you were found. What happened?" Though the old man already had a pretty good idea of what probably happened.

"Oh hey, jiji. I don't feel a thing. How long have I been asleep? And what date is it?" Naruto replied, actually sounding worried for a bit.

"You were found late yesterday evening, and now it's the afternoon of the next day. What with the amount of blood you had lost, I'm actually quite surprised you were able to wake up so quickly. But putting those matters aside, we have some serious issues to discuss, primarily the case of the dead man you were found with…." The Hokage began, trying to steer the conversation to the matter at hand.

"Jiji, I was attacked by this unknown man, so I defended myself, and he ended up dying as a result. There's nothing I could have done."

"But surely, you didn't have to kill him. Do you not know how big of a deal it is to take a life with your own two hands? This is a very grave deed indeed. How do you feel about it."

"I don't know what I feel. Or rather, I don't feel anything. If you're expecting sadness, or regret, or even remorse, I'm not sure I feel any of them. Aren't you happy that I'm alive? Would you prefer that I was dead in his stead?"

"No, of course not Naruto-kun, but you must understand that killing everyone who antagonizes you is not the solution. Make the people trust you, and there just may come a time when you are the most beloved person in the village. You have a responsibility to your village Naruto; you cannot just go around killing its citizens…"

"But jiji I tried already, and nobody cared. Why does everyone hate me anyway. Is it because of the events at the time of my birth? Is it because of the Kyuubi?!"

These words, in the particular way and order they were said, though unknowingly, shocked the old man to his very core. Did Naruto know? If so, since when? He was baffled. How could he know…..Unless, unless the Kyuubi was contacting him?

"Do you know the answer, Naruto-kun?"

"I want to hear it from you."

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Professor, God of Shinobi, and currently longest reigning Hokage sighed, as he lowered his head in defeat. Naruto knew. Would he ever trust him again? He didn't know. He would just have to come clean about the issue, and hope for the best.

"How much do you know about that night ten years ago, when the Kyuubi attacked the village?"

"Well, at the academy, they taught us that the Yondaime Hokage defeated it, and killed it with an awesome suicidal jutsu."

"Well, Naruto-kun, you see, the fact of the matter is that the Kyuubi cannot be destroyed, as it is merely a being of chakra, so there is no true and told way of killing it. The only option the Yondaime had was to seal it inside a newborn child. That child was you. That is also the reason why people see you as a demon, because they find you as a scapegoat for all of their hate that they hold against the Kyuubi."

Seeing the blonde's gob smacked expression, Hiruzen realized that he had been had….. by a ten year old boy no less. He must truly be losing it in his old age if things were turning out this way. So Naruto had no clue whatsoever? That was just sad.

On the inside, Naruto was smirking, ' _Naruto: 2, Old Man Hokage: 0'_ Well, counting his use of the sexy jutsu that is. Anyway, he grew serious as he contemplated what he had just found out.

"But why did it have to be a child? Why me?"

"Because only a child, whose chakra network was yet undeveloped could hope to survive such a sealing. Had an adult been used, the sudden influx of so much chakra would have been too much, and the most probable scenario would be that the Kyuubi would escape, killing its host along with it."

"Umm, is it harmful? The Kyuubi's presence that is…."

"No actually, Jinchuuriki – that's what people like you are called – actually have special abilities because of the being sealed inside of them. For example, look at the wounds you sustained just yesterday. It would have taken any normal person over a week to recover from them, and even then, they would probably have scarred, but with the help of your regenerative abilities granted to you by the Kyuubi, they're already fading away the next day. In addition, the Kyuubi's chakra slowly seeps into your coils, forcing them to become larger, and so, even at the age of ten, your chakra levels by far outclass those of most chunin."

"So basically it makes me super badass….? Yeah, how cool is that!"

"Jiji, I want to be the strongest ninja ever!" ' _So I can make sure no one ever belittles me like that again…..'_

"That is an admirable goal, Naruto-kun. To be a strong ninja to serve and protect one's village, and those precious to them. I'm expecting great things from you." A glimpse of a true smile could be seen on the old man's face, reflecting his pleasure at seeing Konoha's resident Jinchuuriki setting himself on the path to becoming a true embodiment of the will of fire.

' _As if….. Those villagers can go **** themselves.'_ Naruto thought, never once breaking the happy façade he had been displaying for the past half hour.

"But jiji, how will I become an awesome ninja if my teachers don't teach me anything?"

"I'm really sorry you feel that way, Naruto-kun. But there's always still the library. I'll make sure to let the librarian know that you're allowed in the ninja section. You know; Jinchuuriki privileges and all…" Hiruzen decided that endearing the young boy and making him feel indebted to him would make Naruto more loyal, and drive him to further improve his skill set more quickly.

"Thanks jiji. I'll be sure to make you proud."

Satisfied for now, the Sandaime Hokage stood up and made for the door, speaking to the nurse for a bit, and then finally bidding farewell, leaving Naruto to dwell on his thoughts. 'Jiji will never understand. The villagers' hate runs far too deep. There is no turning them. I will just have to fend for myself.' And so began, our favorite blonde's descent into darkness.

 **Right so somebody tell me if you like it or not, and if the writing is any good. First story so expect some issues. No promises with respect to updates.**

 **Some changes to the storyline. Well, no Uchiha massacre. Naruto isn't as dumb as he's in canon. Not much has happened yet, just the run-of-the-mill sort of first chapter. I wanted to write a longer chapter, but I thought here is a nice place to break. Anyhow, I'm out.**


	2. Chapter 2: Uzumaki

**Vengeful Sage**

Chapter 2: Uzumaki?

 **Disclaimer: I don't own most of the stuff in this fic, including Naruto, and whatever other things randomly pop up.**

 **greenblue22: That's an acceptable idea, however, I won't restrict the pairing as of yet. Also, I don't know if I want Sarutobi to be good, bad or somewhere in between, so I'll think about it. I appreciate the feedback though. About the bloodlines, I'm already going to make Naruto godlike, for a specific reason that might be revealed this chapter or the next one, so only the abilities that factor into the original plot I had in mind will be added initially. Even for a godlike fic, I don't want to go overboard, unless there's a very believable reason for me to do so. As for Mokuton, the thing is that though your idea has merit, and it's been used in several very good fics, it does sound weird that Minato would not have it….Anyway, I'll see.**

 **Kurama Thunderstorm: Well, I hope you like this story then, but I'll try not to go overboard with the darkness thing, just the I don't care about you, if you feel the same way about me attitude.**

 ***** This is just a repost of this chapter with a slight edit. For those of you who have read it, no need to read it again. I've merely added the jutsu names and descriptions at the end of the chapter. Also, this is to inform you of the community I've created for super stories. Please give it a look. I'll be adding some nice ones in there in a couple days, I hope, God-willing. *****

It had been ten months since Naruto became aware of the Kyuubi residing in his gut. It had been ten months since the attack on his life, and much had changed since then. He was almost eleven, and Naruto's third year at the academy was about to begin. Over the past months, he had improved much, mostly due to being able to freely visit the library. Of course, he was not allowed access to all the books there, especially those containing jutsu of the highest level, and most anything beyond chunin level was only found in the Konoha archive, which had highly restricted access. Even then, between the amount of history texts available and those on chakra control and jutsu up to mid-B-rank available, Naruto had come far from the boy he was ten months ago.

Not too long after the aforementioned episode, young Naruto had stumbled upon an unused training ground, Training Ground Three to be exact, which he had unofficially declared as his. Every day, after returning from the academy, he would go there and work on his taijutsu, fighting with and against hordes of his earth clones, which proved to be quite a workout, seeing that his earth clones were almost as durable as he was (or maybe not, considering who we're talking about here) working through different strategies, all aimed at taking advantage of superior numbers to ensnare an opponent in his web of traps.

Talking of traps, that was where Naruto excelled, his area of expertise, if you'd like to call it. But more precisely, trap-making could be considered his hobby. After the dozens of times his apartment had been vandalized and intruded upon, the blond had come to realize that his own well-being, and that of his small but comfortable apartment rested on his own shoulders, and he could not rely on the ANBU, who had better things to do, nor on the Military Police to properly patrol and safeguard his property from the random theft or other form of malicious intrusion. And thus began his interest in trap-making. After the first half of a dozen attempts at entering his apartment were brought to their knees, some ending up with the intruders ensnared in coils of ninja wire, others falling into false floors, and some hanging from the ceiling, the frequency of such attempts decreased greatly.

Aside from that however, Naruto would practice several of the jutsu he had picked up from the books and scrolls in the library, including basic elemental jutsu. However, in his search for deadly jutsu, Naruto went through many a book on bloodlines and special jutsu, until he came upon something he had never expected to come across, namely, the Uzumaki Clan.

To say the blond was shocked was an understatement. All his life, he had thought that he, being an orphan since the day he was born, had just been given a random name, which held no significance to anyone. He was a nobody; a clan-less, unimportant, random orphan, who nobody wanted and nobody needed. In other words, the perfect sacrifice…

But now….. he knew it not to be so. He had a clan, or at least, that's what it seemed like. He didn't know whether he ought to jump in delight, or wallow in despair. He had a family, even though he didn't know them yet… a family that had abandoned him, he realized. A family that had not claimed him in over eleven years. But then again, if he had never once heard of this Uzumaki clan, it may very well be that they were not even a clan of Konoha. Maybe his parents were migrants from some far off land, and the other Uzumakis did not know about him. Yeah, that was probably it. That's why no one came for him. There was only one way to find out though.

 **Flashback:**

 _An old man, well into his sixties, sat before a desk, battling against the pile of documents that lay innocently before him, passively hoping to overwhelm him. Well sat would be slightly inaccurate, for he was resting his head on his pile of waiting paperwork, hoping to catch up on his much deserved and well-earned reading time, after all, even kages have to rest sometimes right?_

 _Wrong. The door to his office, and safe haven (hmm? Dream on, jij!) for the time being was blasted open, as a yellow blur sped into the room, coming to stop before his desk, being followed by his middle-aged secretary, who began to pull on the shoulder of the perpetrator behind this early morning chaos, who revealed himself to be none other than Naruto Uzumaki, Konoha's resident prankster as of a couple months ago._

" _Get out of here you insolent child. Hokage-sama doesn't have time to spare for every spoilt little kid who's lost his lollipop. Some people actually have work to do, unlike you." She chided, in a condescending tone._

" _Let him be, Hamako-chan. I was just finishing up with my work anyway. See…?" Hiruzen explained, pointing at his nearly empty desktop. 'Let her buy it, let her buy it…..'_

 _Hamako stared unbelievingly, before spotting the pile of unstamped paperwork haphazardly tossed behind the Hokage's desk. Sweatdropping, she left the room, muttering something about the younger generation having no respect, and no consideration for etiquette when dealing with important people….._

" _Yes, Naruto-kun, how can I help you? I assume this isn't a social call, what with the enthusiasm you showed in getting here…" Hiruzen began, reminding Naruto of why he had come here._

" _Jiji, what can you tell me about my parents?"_

" _Nobody knows who they were; they died during the Kyuubi attack. But you already know this. What exactly made you ask?"_

" _Well then, how come I'm named after the Uzumaki clan? They were an important clan right?"_

" _Naruto-kun, I've told you this before, your name tag was discovered in your basket when you were retrieved from the hospital for the sealing ritual?"_

" _But surely, there must have been someone named Uzumaki in the village before theKyuubi attack?"_

" _That's definitely a possibility .I was retired then, so I probably wouldn't know about all the active ninja at the time. But it's also possible that you're grasping for straws in the dark here and that you have no link to the Uzumaki clan at all. I'm sorry."_

" _Ok, then can you tell me about the Uzumaki clan? Where were they from? What were they known for? Can I meet them?"_

" _Naruto-kun, I'm afraid that won't be possible. The Uzumaki clan was destroyed long ago during the Second Great Shinobi War, and any survivors or remnants were scattered to the four corners of the Elemental Nations. To be able to find or locate any one of them is not a simple task at all."_

 _And just like that, his heart dropped. All those hopes, wishes and aspirations he had been stacking, one upon the other over the past several hours since his discovery came tumbling down, leaving him like a wilted stem. He sighed, resigning himself to his cruel fate, a fate that seemed intent on making him despair, playing the most insensitive of jokes it possibly could._

 **Flashback End**

Naruto being Naruto couldn't be kept down for long, and soon after, Naruto discovered what his clan had been known for. One of the more versatile, yet obscure arts: Fuuinjutsu. The Art of Sealing. The greatest living example of which could be found inscribed on his gut. Yes, he had noticed the giant and infinitely complex sealing array that would appear on his abdomen whenever he molded chakra. Aside from that, however, despite searching for everything there was to know about the clan, there wasn't too much information aside from guesswork and conjecture, such as the fact that Uzumaki clan members had a heightened vitality and very strong life force, and very short rejuvenation times. Well, yeah he had loads of that, but didn't jiji say that his healing was due to the Kyuubi's chakra? He wanted to hope, but the blonde was afraid of being let down. There was no concrete information about them with regards to any special abilities they possessed though. Just rumors - rumors of insane healing powers, rumors of out of the world sensing abilities, rumors of visible weapons made out of chakra and whatnot.

Regardless, Naruto was understandably less than satisfied. He decided that he would find out about his origins, and though he was loathe to admit it, he craved for the sort of affection only a family could give.

 **Flashback:**

" _Hey old man, keep the ramen coming. I'm starving."Exclaimed an exhausted young Naruto, stumbling into Ichiraku's little ramen stand after a full day of non-stop training with the Great Fireball Jutsu. Ever since he saw his self-declared rival – Sasuke Uchiha - performing this technique in front of the entire class, and receiving extra credit for his end-of-term ninjutsu examination two months ago, Naruto had become obsessed with learning how to breathe out a fireball larger than himself from his mouth, and not long after his efforts bore fruit when he found a scroll detailing the jutsu in the shinobi section of the library, which, thanks to special permissions from the Hokage, he had access to. Over the course of a week, he had mastered it to the extent that he could exhale a fireball the size of his bathroom, small as it was, yet, he felt something wrong with it. As if when he would be about to perform the jutsu, something would hold him back, and he would feel that awkward empty feeling, even though the results of a successfully executed Great Fireball Jutsu were obvious._

 _Coming back to the ramen stand, where our favorite blond is busy stuffing himself with the "food of the gods", the aged owner of the ramen stand and his daughter, Ayame smile as they look on._

" _Teuchi-ojisan, did you know about anyone else named Uzumaki who lived in Konoha before I was born?" Naruto asked hopefully._

" _Why yes, in fact. A young woman by the name of Kushina. Poor girl, she was. She came to Konoha a month before the destruction of the Uzumaki clan and the fall of Uzushiogakure. She was quite a spirited young lady though, much like you yourself." Teuchi stared on into the evening, reminiscing, thinking of times long gone. "Sadly, she died during the Kyuubi attack. She was a frequent customer here at this ramen stand. So was Yondaime-sama in fact. Huh, beat that you lousy usurpers!" He jumped, punching the air for emphasis._

 _Naruto's heart was jumping for joy upon hearing this. All of the facts fit together. Her dying during the Kyuubi attack, his inheriting her enthusiastic attitude… wait a minute. Aren't you supposed to get your father's name when you're born? 'Let this not be a dead end please….'_

" _Wasn't there a male Uzumaki, Teuchi-jiji?" 'Please say yes, please say yes.'_

" _I'm afraid I haven't heard of any. Sorry Naruto-kun. However, there was another Uzumaki in Konoha, but she was far before your time…"_

" _Who? Who? Who?"_

" _Her name was Mito Uzumaki, and she was the Shodai-sama's wife. I don't really know that much about her, you should probably ask your academy teacher. He could help you out. "_

" _Umm, this Kushina person- could you tell me more about her? Like what did she look like, and stuff, you know?" He asked, daring to hope._

" _Well, she had striking red hair and purple eyes, and she loved ramen almost as much as you do. She used to beat up anyone who made fun of her, especially her hair. Anyway, I don't really know as much about her as others. I remember she used to be pretty close to Hokage-sama, he would know. Maybe you should ask him. Then there's always Kakashi Hatake, if you can find him that is."_

' _So jiji knew…. Yet, he hid it from me. Why, is it because he doesn't trust me? Is it because of the Kyuubi? Well I'm not going to ask him anyway.'_

 _Deciding upon a new goal for himself, Naruto stood up, paying for the food from his allowance savings. "Thanks a bunch, ojisan. You were a real help. Could you tell me where to find this Kakashi person?"_

" _Oh, just ask around…..you'll find him sometime."_

" _Oh, alright. Well, see you."_

 **Flashback End**

That was a week ago. He had no real luck so far with finding this Kakashi person. And since the academy was off, he didn't know where Iruka-sensei was. Heading to his normal training grounds, he heard voices. Loud voices. Shouting voices. And then he came upon a scene the likes of which he had never seen, nor had he ever conceived such an outlandish idea in his ever imaginative little head.

"Lee, my youthful student. How lucky I was to have found you. I can just see the youthful potential lying dormant within you, awaiting the inevitably youthful awakening of its springtime of youth." A man in a tight body-fitting green spandex leotard with the thickest set of eyebrows known to man and black shiny hair in a bowl cut style, wearing a Konoha jounin flak jacket and orange leg warmers shouted out to the world, hugging a mini-clone of himself, the one he apparently called Lee.

"Yosh, Gai-sensei. It was I that was lucky to have been found by you and chosen by you to benefit from your youthful teachings!" The mini-clone of the newly revealed Gai-sensei shouted back, a river of tears flowing down his face, anime style (where does all that fluid go anyway). The river of tears slowly turned into a sea, and the soil transmuted to sand before Naruto's very eyes, as the sun began to set, as early as eight in the morning, as the two spandex wearing *****s continued to hug each, oblivious to the pain felt by the onlookers and the world around them. (Ok, so I admit I couldn't come up with a fitting word).

"Yosh, Lee. A youthful kindred soul has volunteered to join you on your youthful quest." The man named Gai said, turning to the newly arrived blonde, who was still in a daze from the fading illusionary beach and sunset jutsu, the sight of which was overwhelmingly nauseating and just wrong on so many levels.

"Huh? Did you say something? I'm sorry I didn't quite catch it….." He asked, holding his head as he recovered (is that even possible?) from the debilitating effects of the almighty genjutsu.

"Such a hip and cool attitude…. Just like my rival Kakashi. Yosh, Lee, it seems you've just found yourself a youthful rival just like my own."

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee."

"Gai-sensei."

"Lee."

"Gai-sensei."

As the two youthful (did I just say that?) shinobi continued to embrace the other in the youthful joy of their eternal springtime of youth, Naruto was ready this time. Closing his eyes, he knew he could not let the Beach Sunset no Jutsu fully kick in. Adopting a taijutsu pose, he flew towards the spandex-wearing duo, coming in with a raging spin kick, sending the duo flying, though they both recovered in mid-air, righting themselves and landing in a hand-stand.

"Yosh, Lee. It seems your youthful eternal rival has a most youthful technique, rivaling the Dynamic Entry. But there were at least six flaws in the technique that I could point out off the top off my head. Come, youthful child, and allow us to assist you in awakening your true springtime of youth."

"Yosh, my brother in youth, I am Rock Lee, the Beautiful Green Wild Beast of Konoha. What is _your_ name?"

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna become the greatest ninja ever. Remember it!"

"Yosh, Naruto-kun, from now onwards, you will be my eternal rival, just like Hatake Kakashi is Gai-sensei's eternal rival. Do you accept?"

"Huh?"

"Such a hip attitude, just as expected from my eternal rival. I challenge you to a most youthful spar… Do you accept?"

"…."

"Excellent, shall we begin?"

"Uh, ok alright. But first, did you just say Hatake Kakashi? Do you know him? Can you tell me where to find him?"

"Of course, he is Gai-sensei's eternal rival after all."

"Oh, thanks."

"Anything for my youthful rival, now let us begin…."

And with that, the Beautiful Green Beast of Konoha took his battle ready stance, and then charged. Naruto, though confused for a second, quickly gathered his wits and jumped back, as a bandaged fist passed through the air where he was a second ago. The spandex wearing ninja-in-training didn't give up however, and continued to charge at him, increasing his speed with every moment, straining to keep up with Naruto, who, despite being a year younger, had been running from people much older than him ever since he was four. Dodging the next punch and retaliating with an uppercut that was blocked by Lee, he was forced to duck to avoid a leaping spin kick performed by his adversary. But when Lee crouched low to execute a spinning sweep kick, Naruto was forced to jump into the air, leaving himself open against Lee's follow up side kick. Naruto immediately brought his arms together in front of him in an X shape, trying to block the incoming kick. Though he did technically block, the force of the blow sent the blonde flying into a bush near the outskirts of the training ground.

Man, did that kid hit hard. He certainly wasn't pulling his punches alright. Even now, Naruto's arms felt numb just from blocking it. The blow felt like a hammer slamming into him, blasting him away.

Rubbing his arms, the blonde emerged from the bush, charging towards the Beautiful Green Beast and engaging him once more, catching him off guard with a punch to the abdomen, causing him to bend over. Never one to give up though, Lee came back with a rising backward flip, catching the blonde under the chin and lifting him from the ground, following up with a devastating drop kick that sent him crashing into the ground.

But before he could celebrate his victory, the blonde – before his very eyes – was reduced to dust as a voice sounded out from behind him.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough."

An enormous gust of wind blew out across the clearing, violently picking Lee up off the ground, and sending him careening into a tree at the far end of the training ground, hitting his head on the tree-trunk.

When Lee heard the voice ring out from behind him, he turned around trying to ascertain the direction of attack, but he was too late and the jutsu too widespread for him to be able to do anything but look on as he was unceremoniously lifted off the ground and slammed into a tree at the other side of the training field. Try, as he might, he couldn't find the energy in him to stand up, the pain from the collision overriding all commands of his conscious mind. A shadow fell over him, and he looked up to see his eternal rival extending a hand out to him. Accepting the hand, Lee stood up, his head spinning still from the impact.

"Yosh, Naruto-kun, you are a worthy rival indeed. I shall defeat you next time, and prove that I can be a remarkable shinobi even without the use of ninjutsu or genjutsu. And if I cannot do that, then I will do two-hundred punches."

"…" Sweatdrop.

"What a splendid performance, Lee-kun, Naruto-kun, truly the epitome of all that is youthful. You must join us again in our youthful endeavors Naruto-kun."

"Eh, umm…"

"When did you switch out with a clone, Naruto-kun?" Asked Lee, genuinely curious.

"Since you blasted me into that bush." He said, pointing to the area in question. "Anyway, Gai-sensei. You said you could point out Hatake Kakashi to me…."

"Ah yes, my eternal rival. Let us go then, my youthful students." And thus, he leapt away into the woods. 'Since when am I his student….'

'Anyway, might as well follow him. Lee's gone as well.' Seeing the clearing empty out around him, the blonde followed the duo, trying to keep up with the freaky pace they set.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hatake Kakashi was a lonely man. And despite the fact that pretty much everyone worth his salt in Konoha (well, the shinobi population at least) knew of him, he led a mostly isolated life. Having spent the past eleven years as an ANBU agent, ever since the death of his idol and sensei, the Yondaime Hokage, and the feelings of loss he felt upon losing his dearest teammates Uchiha Obito and Rin, he could no longer bare to socialize and take part in all the fun and games that his colleagues immersed themselves in, as if nothing was different. As if life could possibly go on after everyone close to him had been killed. The pain, it was unbearable. And so, he threw himself into the monotonous life of an ANBU operative.

Given his prodigious skills and implanted sharingan eye, he rose through the ranks quickly, and it was not long before he was promoted to ANBU captain. With back to back high level A and S-rank missions, the misery of loss began to dull. In between, he sought refuge in his perverse selection of literature, which he would read shamelessly in public. After all, all high ranking shinobi had some sort of coping mechanism or the other; some resorted to drinking, some to extreme levels of sadism, some to perversion, some to gambling, some even chewed on senbon to release pent-up frustrations….

So here we find this world renowned shinobi kneeling before the Memorial Stone in Training Ground 7, seemingly muttering to himself. To the random passerby, one would think that he had lost it, but anyone who knew him would understand the solace that could be found in speaking to the friends and family that had departed, whether they could hear those words or not.

Suddenly, he heard a rustling in the leaves, and he leaned back to avoid an insanely fast-moving green blur shooting past where his head had been just moments ago.

"Dynamic Entry." Maito Gai shouted as he landed on one leg, twirling about in a display of his youthful passion. "Ah, Kakashi my youthful rival, what has you looking so gloomy this fine youthful morning? Here I've found a youthful soul searching for you, seeking to learn your hip and cool attitude." Announced Gai, just as Naruto and Lee stumbled into the Training Field, the latter huffing and puffing after the twenty minute murderous (and youthful) sprint.

Of all the things Kakashi could have expected, this was not any of them. For there was a boy standing before him, possessing a face so familiar, the resemblance was uncanny. But who was this boy. After observing him for a couple seconds, he realized who he was; the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki. The 'demon brat'. The container of the infinitely powerful being of destruction that killed his sensei….wait, sensei? That's who this boy resembled, from the bright blue eyes, to the spiky blonde hair, and everything in between. 'Was it possible? Could sensei have made his own son into a Jinchuuriki? No, he wouldn't have done that…' But with each passing moment, his faith in his convictions wavered ever more.

"Hey, I'm Naruto Uzumaki, the future most powerful ninja ever. You must be Hatake Kakashi, I presume?"

He knew who this boy was…..

 **Jutsu:**

 **Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)**

 **C-Rank offensive fire release technique.** **A technique where chakra kneaded inside the body is converted into fire and expelled from the mouth either as a massive orb of roaring flame or as a continuous flame-thrower. The scope of the attack is altered by controlling the volume of chakra that is mustered. The released flames will engulf their target, and leave a crater on the ground's surface. (Narutopedia)**

 ***** From now on, will be using the Japanese name for this jutsu.**

 **Fuuton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)**

 **C-Rank offensive wind release technique. This is a relatively simple technique that creates a sudden gust of wind, but its scale varies greatly depending on the user. If used by a superior shinobi, it has enough destructive power to knock down a large tree. The wind from the squall can blow away all things in the user's line of sight. (Narutopedia)**

 ***** From now on, will be using the Japanese name for this jutsu.**

 **I'm thinking of a bloodline stealing Naruto. What do you Gais think? …..**

 **Ok, so I originally wrote guys, but then when I replaced the English spelling of Guy with Gai, this little guy here was just as enthusiastic in awakening its springtime of youth, so I was like, hell, might as well just let it be.**

 **Anyway, please take out a minute from your time and review, especially since it's my first story, and I'm working without a beta reader, so some comments on grammar and style would help. Also, as far as the plot is concerned, I do have a rudimentary layout planned out, but I'm open to your ideas. However, don't be disappointed if I don't make use of your ideas, which might be the case if it clashes with the basic plot I have thought up.**

 **Well, I'm out.**


	3. Chapter 3: Heritage

**Vengeful Sage**

Chapter 3: Heritage

 **Disclaimer: Do I own Naruto….why yes I did. Kishimoto was sued for trying to impersonate the great lamejoke911 and publish his work. Lamejoke911 became a major world business magnate. Then…..I woke up. Enough said.**

 **Replies to reviews:**

 **Sith Raven's Shadow: You wish may very well be granted.**

 **TheOnlyKing: I respect that.**

 **A guest reviewer had a problem with how trusting Naruto is of the old man in the beginning, especially since I'm trying to show that he isn't as dumb as cannon. Well, that's because he's a child, and children always trust elder figures that are nice to them, and Naruto uptil now, has been treated nicely by the Hokage. It is only after the start of the story that he realizes that the Hokage has been untruthful with him, and begins to alienate him from the old man.**

 **To clear ambiguities, this story will replace the previous one, but there will not be much change in the first couple of chapters. My reasons for reposting it are explained at the end of the other story. The other one will be deleted one month after this one catches up to it.**

Kakashi just went on staring as the miniature version of his late sensei stood before him, awaiting a reply from the masked ninja. He just could not settle with believing that Naruto…. Sensei's Naruto was the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, yet, he hadn't known. How he, who prided himself on his superior intellect and power of deduction, had never even seemed to notice this fact, despite passing by him several times over the past several years, Kakashi failed to comprehend. In his defense, however, on each of these occasions, he was on his way to or from a high-ranking mission or in the course of fulfilling his ANBU duties. Otherwise he would be too busy wallowing in his own guilt and self-pity that he would barely be paying much attention to those around him.

No, this wasn't sensei's son. He had died the night of the attack, the night sensei died. This… no, this was the Kyuubi. The Kyuubi was trying to deceive everyone around it into complacency. Then, it would attack. Then it would show its true colors. But no, he wouldn't let it. He would kill the demon right now, and end things once and for all.

Kakashi lifted his Hitai-ate to reveal a red eye with three tomoe arranged in a circular pattern. The sharingan; one of the most famed eyes in existence. A doujutsu that could see through an enemies attacks and predict their movements, as well as see how they mold their chakra and memorize hand-seals to be able to copy your adversaries' each and every move.

And it just so happened, that as the legendary Sharingan no Kakashi dashed ahead at elite jounin speeds, cocking his fist back for a one-hit KO, a green blur intercepted his blow, "What are you doing, Kakashi?" Maito Gai interjected, confusion and anger evident on his face. "What unyouthful behavior is this?"

"He's the demon. He must be killed before he can destroy us all."

Upon hearing this, said blonde felt his heart give. This person, who he had spent days searching for, who was somehow related to his parents, who he had placed his hopes in, was the same. The same as every other damn person in the village. Just like the others, he failed to make a distinction between Biju and host. What a disappointment. He was just as ignorant as the others. How foolish he felt for having thought otherwise. But there was a silver lining to all this. Gai-sensei, and he felt no misgivings in thinking of him such, was protecting him, even though they had barely met an hour ago. Yet, he had jumped in to protect him.

As Kakashi disengaged with the jounin, he stared at the blonde demon, a stare full of hate. It was then that he felt a disruption in his chakra. Thanks to the sharingan; he could see the volatile and sporadic spikes in his chakra that were characteristic of genjutsu. Holding his hands in a ram seal, the young ANBU captain spiked his chakra and suddenly released it all at once. Satisfied that the demon's attempt at ensnaring him in a genjutsu had been foiled, his lifted his gaze to look once more at the blonde. A look of absolute terror could be seen written across his face, prepared to flee were it not for the spandex-clad jounin's interference.

But this time, as Kakashi gazed into those blue orbs, something felt fundamentally different. All of that hate had suddenly evaporated, leaving him just standing there, confused by his actions. Thinking back to his actions, he realized that those intense feelings were not his own. He, with his calm and controlled demeanor, would never have given in to such a whimsical emotional compulsion. He had been controlled, his emotions played with. He had been tricked into attacking attack Naruto, who still stood behind Gai, a look of frustration marring his features. But who could have cast such a subtle and complex genjutsu.

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. He would have to ponder over that later. Right now, he had to run damage control. Lowering his hands, and stepping back a couple steps, "I'm sorry for my outburst, Naruto. I wasn't in the best state of mind a moment ago." He lowered his Hitai-ate. "I'm truly sorry for attacking you. I don't know what came over me. Please forgive me…?"

"You think I'm a demon, don't you?"

"No, that's not it at all…Please understand, I thought you were someone else. But no, you're Uzumaki Naruto, the future most powerful shinobi ever. Can we just start again? Like from the beginning?"

Naruto finally released the breath he had been holding, which he just realized had been the case. Beginning with a slightly awkward expression, he entered his intro pose and said.

"Umm, ok… The name's Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm gonna be the most powerful shinobi ever."

"Hello, I'm Hatake Kakashi. Pleased to meet you. No really, I am pleased to meet you."

The blonde raised an eyebrow at this, not really sure he could take this person's words at face value, especially after the stunt he had tried to pull earlier.

"…"

"So, you were searching for me? What exactly did you need?"

"I wanted to ask you some questions. About someone you knew."

"Well, go on then. It's the least I can do."

"Did you know of a woman called Uzumaki Kushina?"

Kakashi looked on, flabbergasted. It was highly unlikely for Naruto to have come across that name purely by chance. It was far too improbable. He would have to ask Hokage-sama about it. Across from them both, Gai too was curious about where Naruto had heard of Kushina, while Lee looked on in confusion. Nevertheless, he immediately understood the look Kakashi sent his way. 'This was not something to be discussed out in public.

"Lee, it's time to fan our flames of youth, lest they die out for lack of training."

"Yosh, let us embrace the flames of youth, or else they will be extinguished due to our inattention."

And so, the duo set off to who knows where, to do who knows what.

"Where did you hear that name?"

"From Teuchi-ojisan at Ichiraku Ramen. Why, does the name hold some importance for you? He did say you knew her."

"Why yes. I knew her quite well. In fact, when I was a young genin, my jounin sensei was the Yondaime Hokage…"

"What? You learned from the Yondaime? Wow…."

"Ahem, as I was saying, I studied under Yondaime-sama, and Kushina Uzumaki was very close to him. In fact, she was like a mother to me."

"Do you know how she died?"

"Yes, she was killed by the Kyuubi."

"Did she have any children?"

"Why the sudden interest Naruto? This is the private life of someone very close to me you're asking about."

"I want to know because she, like me was an Uzumaki, possibly the only other one in Konoha, and I thought…that maybe we could be related…"

"I think Hokage-sama would be a better person to ask. He knew her longer." 'Plus, he would know what to say and what not to say.'

'As I thought, Hokage-jiji knew, but kept me in the dark about my heritage. He clenched his fists in anger, but then released them once more and the mask of innocence and calm resurfaced. "Jiji said he doesn't know about any Uzumaki during the time before my birth, since he was officially retired back then."

'Bullshit. There isn't a ninja in the Elemental Nations jounin upwards that Sandaime-sama hasn't heard of….'

"Well, Naruto, how about I answer your questions tonight, eh? Over dinner, how does that sound?"

"Fabulous, Ichiraku Ramen then, OK?"

"Ichiraku it is, then… Be there at 8."

'I have got to talk this over with Hokage-sama before I answer his questions. If Hokage-sama hasn't told Naruto about his parents, then there must have been a reason not to. Then there is also the issue of that genjutsu.' Kakashi suddenly disappeared with a Body Flicker Jutsu, leaving a cloud of smoke in his wake.

As Naruto watched the Hatake Kakashi vanish into smoke, 'Man, I've so gotta learn how to do that….'

And then the blonde remembered that in all of the excitement, he hadn't gotten any training done all day. Well, there was still an hour or two before noon, so he might as well make use of it.

Half an hour later found him back at Training Ground Three, deliberating over what he should practice on today. However, his thoughts kept returning to his short spar with Lee. Even though he had won on the basis of his ninjutsu and sneakiness, he knew that with respect to taijutsu, he had been overwhelmed. There hadn't been enough time for a decisive taijutsu battle, but when he thought back to it, he knew he would have been beaten were it not for his ability to use ninjutsu. Lee's blows were heavy, and he was fast. Naruto considered himself to be quite quick, and if it came down to a race between the two, or a test of endurance, he was fairly confidant of his chances, but Lee's speed was nothing to laugh at either. In addition, Lee's moves were very well-coordinated, as if he had practiced and executed them hundreds of times, if he went by the fluidity of his movements.

It was not that the blonde didn't practice taijutsu. He would perform punches and kicks, practicing jumps and measure his sprint time. But his moves were still untested. He had actually used them in battle for the first time today. After mulling over the problem for what seemed like hours, he had an epiphany. 'I need a training partner.'

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Naruto ducked behind a dustbin as a three man squad of military police passed by. The outskirts of the Uchiha compound, which was far removed from the center of the village, were heavily patrolled by the military police, seeing as it was predominantly under the influence of the Uchiha clan, even though non-Uchihas could also join if they so wished. Sneaking by the patrol, Naruto jumped the wall. It had been barely five seconds when the alarm was sounded, and hordes of footsteps could be heard. Ducking into an alley, he waited as a dozen officers barreled past, and then, careful not to be seen, he arrived in front of the largest house in the compound. The clan head's residence no doubt. Behind the house, there was a yard and training field. Upon arriving there:

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu." A high-pitched voice roared, as a giant fireball could be seen on its way towards a five-foot tree trunk, which was already black, apparently as a result of a constant effort to incinerate it, a tree trunk behind which our favorite blonde was currently hiding. Realizing where thinks were heading, Naruto sprang out from behind the trunk, but he hadn't enough time to fully escape the scope of the fireball. Thinking on his feet and rushing through the seven hand-seals required, he lifted his fingers to his mouth, blowing out with all his might.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu."

Whoever said fight fire with fire certainly wasn't a ninja. As the two fireballs clashed, each pushing against the other, trying their utmost to establish dominance over the other, Naruto saw that his fireball was being pushed back. In an attempt to save his life, he started pouring more and more chakra into the attack, but for all the good it did, he may as well not even have tried. Admittedly, the extra boost he gave his jutsu was sufficient for overcoming the incoming fireball, however, it came at the cost of control. The two jutsu destabilized, blowing up in the faces of the two chance adversaries. The blast sent both ninja flying back, their clothes singed by the searing heat of the explosion, small scorch marks riddled their arms and faces.

As Naruto got up, he looked around him. The training post he had been hiding behind had been reduced to ashes, and across the clearing, lay the boy he had come to find. Approaching the downed figure, he heard voices behind him, and just in time, sprinted into the forest to take cover behind one of the trees. Moments later, three cadets of the military police showed up, worry etched on their faces as they saw the general's youngest son on the ground, struggling to stand. His clothes showing evident signs of being burned.

"Sasuke-kun."

"What happened?"

"Are you alright?"

"We heard an explosion…."

Finding the strength to stand on his own two feet, the boy called Sasuke looked back at the cadets. He was a fair-skinned young boy who had onyx eyes and chin-length black hair, which was spiky in the back, his bangs coming down over his eyes. He wore the traditional Uchiha clan outfit, a short-sleeved black shirt with a high-collar, displaying the Uchiha emblem on the back.

"It's nothing. I was just practicing with my fire jutsu and it exploded in my face."

"Should we take you to the hospital, Sasuke-kun?"

"No, no there's no need. I'm perfectly alright…."

"If you say so, I guess…."

With that, the trio of cadets left. 'That was odd.' Sasuke thought. 'The Gokakyu no Jutsu has never blown up in my face before…. And there was a delay between hitting the training post and exploding. It was just hanging in mid-air, like some unseen force from the other side was pushing it back. And the heat… He had never felt such intensity before…. It was strong enough for two, maybe even three fireballs…

Before he could come to a conclusion, a blonde, whisker-faced boy of about eleven years emerged from the foliage, showing signs of scorch marks along his face and arms, just like Sasuke's own. Oh, he knew this person. He knew him very well. He was the class dobe, who couldn't even get a single clone right. Yet, he was arrogant. He thought he could face off against an Uchiha, a superior ninja by birth. In spite of that, not a month would pass by where he wouldn't challenge him. Him! The top of his class Uchiha prodigy. That is, until ten months ago. He had just stopped. No more challenges. No more screaming to the world how he would be Hokage. No more horrid jump-suit…. Yeah, he couldn't believe he'd forgotten about that. The orange eyesore that Naruto was so enamored of. He'd abandoned it all. He was actually relieved.

"What are you doing here, dobe?"

"I can be wherever I want to be…." Speaking with Sasuke just got him riled up and defensive for no reason at all.

"Well, this is Uchiha property, so leave."

"Oh, so is that why you decided to send a humongous fireball my way?"

"What? That was you that caused my fireball to explode? You really are good for nothing but destruction, aren't you?"

"Had it not been for my own fireball in return, I would have been burned to a crisp. Is that how you treat guests, teme?"

'"Hmph, you couldn't make a fireball to save your life."

"Well, newsflash teme. I just did."

"Liar."

"Oh yeah. Well I'll show you then."

Going through the seven hand-seals required for the jutsu:

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu."

He blew outwards, launching a fireball in the direction of the two remaining training posts, the third having been destroyed as a result of the earlier explosion. With a smug expression set on his face, he turned to see the look on Sasuke's face. It was murderous. The boy in question marched up to the blonde, holding him by his collar.

"Where did you learn the Gokakyu no Jutsu? It's an Uchiha clan secret, you thieving dobe."

"Yes, a secret your clan probably stole from another clan in the first place. What do you call a clan of freaky-eyed, jutsu-poaching policemen anyway?"

"Tell me where you learned it from, dobe." He demanded, shaking him violently.

"I learned it from the library. It's not really that big of a secret teme."

"Well, what are you doing here anyway?"

"I came here for a spar. It's been a long time, and I needed a training partner."

"After what happened the last time we sparred?"

 **Flashback:**

 _It was a nice warm morning, early autumn where the intense heat of the summer months had passed by, and the chill of the winter months had yet to set in. Barely a month into the academic year, two boys stood facing each other on an elevated platform. Between the two stood a man of average height with brown hair kept in a ponytail. His defining feature was a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose. He wore a chunin flak jacket and the Konoha Hitai-ate on his forehead._

 _It was the first monthly exam, which consisted of several sections, one of which was the no-holds spar that was about to ensue. The entire class standing in a circle in the training field outside the academy, pairs of students were chosen to come up front to fight each other one-on-one. No restrictions. Of course, they were only allowed blunt weapons. The upcoming match just so happened to be everyone's favorite, where the all-popular scion of the famed Uchiha clan pounded on the class dobe, and everybody could have their share of a laugh at the expense of the guy that had the guts to mess with anyone and anyone out there, sparing not even the teachers of his pranks._

" _Are you two ready to begin?"_

" _Yes sensei." Two voices said in unison, one markedly more enthusiastic about it than the other._

" _Then, on your marks, Hajime!" Bringing his hand down, Umino Iruka jumped back, as the two rivals (in the blonde's opinion) dashed forward, tossing blunted shuriken at each other as they dodged and maneuvered, none of the projectiles hitting their target as the two engaged. Naruto went in for a punch, but Sasuke ducked and the blonde overextended himself, leaving himself open for Sasuke to sweep his feet out from beneath him._

" _Go, Sasuke-kun."_

" _You're the best Sasuke-kun."_

" _Beat that baka into the ground."_

" _He's just a loser. Way to go, Sasuke-kun."_

 _But Naruto wasn't down for the count yet. Getting up, he charged once more, as he kicked the young boy standing before him, before the illusion disappeared into nothing, and he looked behind him to see a beach ball sized fireball heading his way. He had no time to get out of the way, and so he crossed his arms in front of him, preparing for the worst._

" _That's quite enough, Sasuke. You've won." Said Iruka, as he interfered, pulling Naruto out of the way. "Hmph. A loser like always, dobe. You can never be my equal."_

" _Sasuke-kun is so cool…." Murmurs spread throughout the crowd._

" _Just you wait. I'll beat you for sure next time."_

" _Learn some ninjutsu before you come face me next time, dobe."_

" _You bet I will, teme. Just you wait."_

' _Naruto-kun. I wish I had the same determination as you. The same strength to move on and face everything in life with a smile on my face.' A meek young girl with lavender eyes and dark blue hair stood watching, with a smile on her face._

 **Flashback end:**

"This time is gonna be radically different. I've trained my butt off for this fight, and I won't lose. I even learned some ninjutsu as I said I would."

"Hmph. Regardless, a dobe like you could never hope to qualify as my sparring partner, let alone my equal."

"Oh, yeah, we'll see when I rub your face in the dirt."

"Well fine then. If you can make this battle last five minutes, I'll accept you as a suitable training partner."

"Just watch me."

Taking their stances, both boys stared at each other, each boy waiting for the other to make the first move.

Sasuke darted forward, starting the fight with an opening jab to the chest. Naruto immediately parried, moving a step back to maintain his distance. A grin broke out on his face. Sasuke of course, was only testing the waters. Once more, he moved forward with a side kick to the stomach, only for Naruto to side-step and retaliate with a sweeping kick, knocking Sasuke off his feet. Before Naruto could press the advantage, Sasuke landed with a twin handed hand-stand, flipping backwards in mid-air to come to a stop two meters behind his original position.

"It seems the Uchiha aren't so mighty after all." The blonde taunted.

"Don't get cocky. This fight hasn't even started yet." Sasuke replied, as he took his stance once more. In reality, he was amazed that Naruto could even keep up with him, let alone have the upper hand. Just a couple months ago, Naruto wouldn't have lasted a minute against him. He had definitely improved.

He was brought out of his thoughts as he lifted his arms to defend himself from a rising kick to his chin, but Naruto's kick didn't even connect. Too late did he realize that it had been a feint, as the real deal came down in the form of a devastating drop-kick. Leaping back at the last moment, he wasn't fast enough to completely evade the attack as it struck his forehead, then his nose and finally glanced by his chest.

Raising his hands up to his nose, he found them stained in crimson – stained in his blood. He was taking this fight easy. And he paid for it. No more. He would be pulling out the stops now. Moving as fast as he could, just as his brother had showed him, he started bombarding his foe with shuriken, all the while not stopping for a second. Naruto soon found himself assaulted by the full power of an Uchiha's rage as he dodged the hail of shuriken, one after the other. Ducking past the first five, he leaped to the right to dodge the next set of three shuriken, failing to notice the fourth that came from right behind him, slicing into his shoulder.

Blood dripping from his wound, shallow as it was, Naruto pulled out the shuriken lodged in his shoulder, just in time to see Sasuke running through a set of hand-seals he recognized all too well. Quickly forming an earth clone beside him, he retreated, as his earth clone too went through hand-seals for a jutsu.

Finishing together, the two shouted:

" **Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu** / **Fuuton: Daitoppa**!"

The two simultaneous blasts of wind and fire flew at each other at violent speeds, finally clashing in the middle of the two contestants. The moment the two clashed, there was an explosion, the wind stoking the flames and blowing them out of proportion. Within seconds, the fireball the size of a chair had grown to twice the size of an elephant, instantaneously overwhelming the blast of wind opposing it. The blonde standing before it never stood a chance.

Panting from the effort, Sasuke approached the site of the explosion to find nothing but a charred corpse, with third degree burns running down its body. 'Did I just kill the dobe? How's that possible. In fact, that fire was far too strong. My normal Fireball Jutsu isn't even one-tenth the size and intensity of what just happened…..' However, before he could comment, it withered away to dust.

"Dammit teme. Are you trying to kill me or what?" He heard a voice speak out from behind him. Startled, Sasuke looked behind him to see Naruto holding a kunai to his neck. 'How did he escape from that attack?' Naruto was completely unharmed, except for the remnants of that first explosion some fifteen minutes ago, and a cut on his shoulder from when his shuriken had pierced it.

"How did you do that? I saw it with my own eyes, you were dead center of my fire jutsu."

"Well, learn your lesson teme. Never let Uzumaki Naruto out of your sight." The blonde wagged his finger at him. Almost as if, he was provoking him. ' That's it…'

"I think that's enough for today, don't you think? Sasuke? Naruto-kun?" A young male voice interrupted, taking hold of Naruto's kunai and pushing it away from Sasuke's neck.

Both young shinobi in training turned to look at the new arrival - an average-height youth of about sixteen years, who with his jet-black hair and intense onyx gaze, struck an intimidating figure, though otherwise he appeared to be pretty much a regular teen.

"Nii-san!"

"Quite an interesting fight….. I'm surprised you were able to surprise Sasuke like that."

"Well, I've been training my butt off. There'd better be some results."

"My name is Uchiha Itachi. I'm Sasuke's older brother. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the soon to be strongest ninja ever."

"Hmm, yes, my otouto has told me quite a lot about you. Though it seems his description might have been a bit off."

While Itachi was speaking with Naruto, Sasuke stood in the background, clenching his fists in frustration. The more he tried to catch up with his brother and surpass all his peers, the further away he seemed from achieving his goals. If he lost to someone who was inferior to him, a no-name clan-less loser, could he ever hope to defeat his brother, who was a prodigy among prodigies, hailing from the legendary Uchiha clan?

'Why? Why is it that no matter how much I train, I just can't seem to earn the recognition of tou-san?'

Even though it was his dream that his father would recognize him, and praise him just as he praised Itachi, Sasuke always fell short of the yard-stick his father would measure him by. Despite the fact that he would receive the top scores in everything, he was not the jewel of his father's eyes, nor was he the pride of the clan like Itachi was. He was always ignored as second-best.

"Where did you learn that wind jutsu, Naruto-kun?" Asked Itachi, genuinely surprised that an orphan like Naruto would have learned a wind nature ninjutsu even though he had no known teacher to speak of.

"I learned it from a book in the library. Why does everybody ask me that?" He screamed out in protest.

"Hey, calm down, I was just curious how you managed to defeat my brother, since he's top in his class and I train him too sometimes, so he's not that bad."

"Huh, could you train me too? I really really need a teacher….."

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun. Between my ANBU duties and helping my brother, I wouldn't be able to take out enough time from my schedule, but I'll try to find you one."

Turning to Sasuke, "Sasuke, you know why you lost?"

Sasuke refused to look up, glaring at the ground as Itachi went on.

"Because you underestimated your opponent and got hit as a result. Then you let your rage consume you, blinding you to what possibilities may have been, and so you were taken by surprise."

"Since when were you watching?" Finally raising his face, now glaring at Naruto instead.

"Since the very beginning, after that explosion. Once again, I must say that you need to watch yourself. You fired a fireball at a training post, not noticing a person behind it. I'm disappointed.

"As for you Naruto-kun. This is Uchiha clan property. What are you doing here?"

This brought a smirk to Sasuke's face. Seeing the dobe being berated would any day, especially now that the blonde had defeated him.

"I've decided that Sasuke-teme will be my training partner."

"I think that is an excellent idea. What do you say, Sasuke?"

"Heh, the teme here just lost a bet. He said if I could make this fight last five minutes he would train with me." He pointed out, "Unless he's too chicken of course."

"Hn." A grunt was his only reply.

"…." Itachi gave him his favorite Uchiha glare, complete with the red eyes and all.

"Ok, fine." He finally relented.

"How about you two meet up on weekends here, and I might even show up to give you some pointers?"

"Sure, that's perfect, since it gives me some time to train on my own as well."

"Hn."

"Well before you leave. Here's a pointer. Since both of you were using elemental techniques…"

"What's an elemental technique?"

Giving a sigh, "An elemental technique is one in which you convert your chakra to that of a particular element of nature. This may be water, fire, wind, lightning or earth. For example, the Gokakyu no Jutsu is a fire element release jutsu, whereas Fuuton: Daitoppa is a wind release jutsu. Some people have an affinity for one element while others have an affinity for another. For example, most of the Uchiha clan have an affinity for fire jutsu."

"An affinity? What's that?" Ever the dead-last, Naruto asked. Even though, his being deadlast was not a result of low IQ or anything of the like, merely the treatment of his teachers and the loss of interest that resulted from it.

"An affinity is basically which element you can use the most easily, and most powerfully." Trying to get back to the topic at hand, "Anyway, as I was saying. These elements forma cycle in the given order, water – fire – wind – lightning – earth – water. Each element is weak against the one preceding it, and strong against the one succeeding it. So when Naruto-kun used a wind attack, it was immediately overwhelmed by Sasuke's fire attack. Keep that in mind next time you spar."

"How do you know what your affinity is?"

"Wait till the weekend. I'll tell you then. Now, go on. This sparring session is over."

And so, our favorite blonde sulked off to pass the time elsewhere, unable to wait till dinner, when he would learn about his clan.

Having expelled the intruder from their midst, the two Uchiha turned to each other, their eyes meeting for the first time. "Well well, little brother. It seems that the class dobe is anything but. You seem to have found yourself a worthy rival."

"Nii-san. Train me. Please…"

Itachi extended his hand to reach over to Sasuke, "Maybe some other time, otouto." As he poked him in the forehead. "In the meanwhile, why don't you go train with Kiyomi-chan? I'm sure she'll be happy to indulge you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In a ramen stand on the other side of the village, a blonde ten-year old – going on eleven –stumbled into the entrance, his appearance disheveled. A masked man with spiky gravity-defying hair sat waiting.

"You're late." Was his warm welcome.

To Kakashi, these words coming from his mouth seemed just unnatural. He never waited for anybody. Never. But today, he felt sympathy for the boy in front of him, and decided to spare him the horror that was waiting for Hatake Kakashi.

"Umm, sorry Kakashi-san. I was being chased by those stupid Uchiha police people, so I had to hide and wait them out."

"Okay… So I won't ask what you were doing that made them chase you. I'm here, you wanted some answers. So ask away."

"Did Uzumaki Kushina have any children?"

"Well, she was pregnant the last time I saw her. In fact, I was her guard during her pregnancy. But I failed to protect her when it mattered most. It is one of my greatest regrets. She gave me the day off the day of the Kyuubi attack. In fact, she was supposed to give birth that day."

"So, did she?"

"Well, I wasn't there. But there is one thing I do know." Creating an air of suspense.

"Well? What is it?"

"Her son was to be named Naruto."

Silence. That was all that he received. No shouts of surprise, exclamation, no expression of anger. Just silence.

Then, "Was she my mother?"

"Apparently, yes."

Naruto didn't know what to feel. He knew who his mother was. 'And so did jiji for that matter. But he lied to me all my life.' This man also knew his mother. Very well, if he was to be believed. But still, he hadn't inquired after her son. He had just left him to rot, like the rest of the village. But he told him in the end….that had to count for something right?

"How long have you known?"

"Since this morning, really. When you asked me about her, something clicked, and I realized that you must be her son. Once again, I'm sorry for attacking you like that."

'I guess he can be redeemed.'

"Can you tell me who my father was?" His voice dropping to an all-time low. A sort of pleading tone in his tone.

Kakashi hesitated. He really wanted to tell Naruto about his father, but…

 **Flashback no Jutsu**

 _A man with gravity defying silver hair, and a leaf Hitai-ate stood in a circular office, facing an old man sitting at a desk before him._

" _Hokage-sama, is Naruto sensei's and Kushina-sensei's son?"_

" _How long have you known?"_

" _Since just this morning. Naruto came to me asking about her." And so he told him about his encounter with the blonde that morning._

" _And what did you tell him?"_

" _I told him I would answer his questions over dinner, so I could come and consult you first."_

" _You did the right thing Kakashi."_

" _What should we do, Hokage-sama? He's bound to find out eventually."_

" _You know how important it is that Minato's enemies never find out about Naruto, or else they may attempt to take our Jinchuuriki for themselves. Konoha is already weakened from the Kyuubi attack and we haven't yet recovered to full force. You know what loss of our Jinchuuriki could mean….. We would lose our position at the top of the shinobi world."_

" _But he's sensei's son. He has a right to know who his parents were. He's practically figured out the identity of his mother already anyway. Is that all you think of him as? As Konoha's Jinchuuriki?"_

" _We cannot risk it. Tell him about Kushina if you must, but not about Minato under any circumstances. Konoha must always come first. Before family, before friends. Before the life and feelings of each and every individual. As long as the tree stands firm, then anything else is a necessary sacrifice."_

' _This is not the Hokage-sama I've always known. He always used to tell me about the will of fire, and that a village is its people. Something is wrong.'_

' _He is certainly hiding something. There is no point in talking to him about the genjutsu. I need some time to sort things out.'_

" _Hai, Hokage-sama."_

 **Flashback Kai:**

Kakashi was torn between guilt, and obedience to his leader. But he knew that something was wrong. The way the Hokage completely disregarded any of his pleas for forbidding the villagers from attacking Naruto, or from assigning him a protection unit, as if he wanted them to attack Naruto. But what could be his objective. This was the kind of thing Danzo would be expected to do, not the kind old man that was the Hokage.

After what felt like several minutes of deliberation, he came to a decision. He could not just stick by his orders, especially when he knew something was seriously wrong. After all, ' _Those that abandon their comrades are worse than scum.'_ Abandoning Naruto and deceiving him would be like betraying his sensei, and what would that make him?

"Naruto, come with me." Placing the money on the counter, alongside his unfinished bowl of ramen, Kakashi stood up, walking away from the stand, Naruto following right behind him.

"Naruto, what you need to understand is that the identity of your father is a secret, an S-class secret. The Hokage has forbidden me from telling you."

"Why? Every child should has the right to knowing who his father is."

"I agree, and that's why I'm telling you this, but you must promise to never ever let anyone know the identity of your father, and you must never let out the fact that I told you who he was. If you can promise me that, I'll tell you."

"Sure, I promise."

"Naruto, your father's name was Namikaze Minato. More generally known as the Yondaime Hokage, and my own sensei."

To say Naruto was shocked would be the understatement of the century. Him, some no-name clan-less loser – as Sasuke-teme would put it – was the son of the Yondaime Hokage, one of the greatest shinobi to have ever lived….. That was nigh unbelievable.

"I don't believe you."

"It's your decision, whether you believe it or not, but you might want to see the similarities you possess, like your bright blue eyes, blonde hair etc."

It hit him like a bombshell. He really did look a hell of a lot like the Yondaime. His facial features, especially. He even had this tendency of often going to sit on his head at the Hokage Monument. How he failed to notice this before, it completely escaped him. It was like a dam had been broken as a river of new ideas flowed into his mind.

"Why would the Hokage keep this a secret?"

Had he told the people, Naruto would have been respected. He would have been loved as the son of the village's favorite Hokage and its hero.

"Because your father had a lot of enemies, and Hokage-sama was afraid that if word got out, you would be kidnapped."

'He could have had me protected from the villagers…'

"Could you tell me more about my parents? About both of them….Like what they were like?"

"Sure. Your mother, was much like you. Impulsive and stubborn. But she was also cheerful and very kind. Violet eyes and the fiery red hair that the Uzumaki clan was famous for. She was a very strong and powerful shinobi. Strong enough to beat me hands down, especially when she used those chakra chains of hers. And your father, well any history book would hold complete chapters on him. The fastest shinobi to ever live, sensei was truly an exceptional person, a legend. He looked much like you, and he was pretty popular with the ladies. Always calm and collected. In fact, he left me the keys to his house, where your parents lived. If you want, I could take you there."

"Really. Please, take me there."

"Fine. Just remember your promise."

"I will, Kakashi-nii."

 **And there.**

 **OC:**

 **Kiyomi is a member of the Uchiha clan. She is one year Sasuke's senior.**

 **Alright, so if anyone has any queries about how Naruto can use the fireball jutsu, well, in theory, anyone can learn any jutsu, though you will find that you're better suited to using the element you have an affinity for. Besides, we will soon see that Naruto has a slight affinity for fire jutsu, and a major affinity for wind….and whatever other things happen to come up later on in the story.**

 **Also, I'm thinking of making this a crossover with harry potter. I'll let my readers vote on it though. The decision however, remains my own. Anyway, I've opened a poll for you guys. Do vote on it on my profile.**

 **Aside from that, it's really disappointing how my story hasn't really gotten any reviews. It's not very good encouragement if you know what I mean. Either my story is really that bad, in which case I'd like my readers to tell me so, if not tell me what you like….**

 **Same for my community. Do take a look. I'd like some favs on it. Well anyway.**

 **Well, I'm out.**


	4. Chapter 4: A Home

**Vengeful Sage**

Chapter 4: A Home?

 **Disclaimer: Do I own Naruto….I wish.**

A tall man with spiky silver hair stood before a mundane looking house, in a mundane looking street in a mundane looking neighborhood, beside him a young boy with spiky blond hair. The man stepped forward, removing a key from his hip pocket, beckoning the boy closer.

"And here it is, your parents' house. Go on, Naruto, open it." As he handed the boy the key.

The blond, taking the key, approached the gate, which was the only conspicuous feature of the house. Most houses in the area had no such high walls or gates, and even the ones that did, they didn't hold a swirling pattern on the front. As he went closer, he could feel chakra emanating from the door, a familiar chakra, calling out to him. Warmth like never before. As he took hold of the doorknob, ready to insert the key in its hole, he felt something. A prick. A tiny subtle prick on his palm. Removing his hand in shock, he saw that the 'wound' had already closed, and nothing seemed amiss.

Right then, a series of audible clicks took place, and the front gate swung open of its own accord, leaving a pair of bewildered on-lookers.

"Well, that was unexpected." Said Naruto with a blank look.

"No actually, it's not really all that surprising. After all sensei never needed a key to enter his home. Nor did your mother for that matter. There must be some sort of security system that immediately recognized you as the owner of the house. But I can't really say. Both your parents were masters of Fuuinjutsu at a level I couldn't even hope to achieve." His expression hidden behind his face mask.

"When I first touched the doorknob, there was a prick to my finger, very slight, but noticeable. Any idea what that could mean?"

"Of course, a blood seal. How simple, but how affective."

"What's a blood seal?"

"It's a sort of Fuuinjutsu that is activated when it comes in contact with blood. The seal reacts in a specific way if it recognizes the blood as belonging to a specific individual, type or lineage, in this case by unlocking the door."

"Wow….so it recognized me as the rightful owner of this place just by my blood?"

"Yeah. Though sensei just used to flare his chakra and it would open."

Unable to continue standing outside the house as if this was completely normal, the blond made to enter the building. Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder, holding him back.

"Naruto, maybe you should explore some other time. There's something we must do right now. Oh, and one more thing. No one must see you enter or leave this neighborhood, not the villagers, not the shinobi, especially not the ANBU and under no circumstances, the Hokage. If someone finds out, my life will be forfeit, and I don't know what will happen to you. If things come down to the worst, your memories might even be locked away."

"No problem, Kakashi Nii-san. I'll make sure no one sees me around." Glancing around, Naruto saw no one so he asked.

"What is it that you said we had to do right now anyway?"

"Disappear from here without a trace, and show up at Ichiraku's in twenty minutes for dinner. You didn't eat out of excitement when we went there last time. If anyone asks you where you were, tell them you were training. I'll meet you there."

 _Twenty Minutes Later:_

At Ichiraku's Ramen Stand, we find a noisy young blond enthusiastically slurping away at God's gift to mankind; that is miso ramen.

"Old man, I'll have three more bowls of Miso. This stuff is the best." And even though 'this stuff' really did feel like the best, Naruto doubted it had that much to do with its inherent nature and taste. After all, most if not everyone else disagreed with him. He assumed that the thing which got him addicted to ramen was the fact that it was all he had, or could have had. Old man Ichiraku was the only store keeper or food stand owner that did not kick him out, overcharge him or look at him with blatant disdain, and actually treated him like a decent human being. It was from this sentiment that his love and appreciation for the food developed. And even though, despite his massive appetite and metabolism, he was quite nicely fed by the time he had had his fifth or sixth bowl, yet he would persist, until he had consumed at least a dozen. This wasn't due to uncontrolled gluttony or anything of the like, no. It was his way of showing appreciation for feeding him, even though it lost them half their customers, the only way he knew how.

" _The people who've boycotted us due to us treating you like a normal customer….well don't worry about them much. They are the real demons, and we don't serve demons anyway."_

He had said. So had Ayame, his daughter, who was barely a couple years older than Naruto herself. And Naruto agreed. For the villagers to be so blind and hateful as to not even eat at a place the 'demon brat' ate at was just sad. They really were demons, and if he could have gotten away with it, he would have done to them whatever they had done to him and to the precious few that stood up for him. But alas, that was not to be.

But Naruto still felt like he had to compensate them somehow for what they were sacrificing, so he decided to eat as much as he could, and make sure the two sold as much as they could.

Just then, another man walked into the ramen stand. He looked around to see Hatake Kakashi with his trademark eye-smile sitting on the stool next to him.

"Yo."

"Hello again, Kakashi Nii-san. So…why'd you call me here."

"Shhh. Not so loud. The Hokage has a special technique by which he can observe us from above. And even though he can't hear us, you never know if someone's eavesdropping on us. As a shinobi, you must learn to always stay alert. That's why I called you here. I told the Hokage we'd be meeting at 9:30 to discuss the questions you had about your mother. He's probably watching us right now, with the use of his viewing orb. We must keep up the act of talking for around half an hour, and then we can go our separate ways. Just remember, there is always an ANBU squad watching you. If you want to go anywhere near your father's house, make sure to lose them." He whispered.

"So what do we do for half an hour?"

"Anything. Just keep talking."

"Fine then, you learned from the Yondaime right? Could you train me?"

"He was your father you know. You don't have to refer to him as the Yondaime Hokage. And I don't know, I'm currently in ANBU, I'd have to leave if I were to train you."

"He may have been the one that brought me to this world, but all my life, he has only been the Yondaime Hokage to me. Besides…."

"…"

"…."

"Go on."

"What kind of father would seal a demon inside his own son, and then leave him to rot at the mercy of the villagers. Aren't fathers supposed to love and protect their children, especially when they are infants? Why did he have to seal the Kyuubi inside me?..."

"Naruto, your parents loved you. In fact, they named you after a character from a book, a hero who brought peace to the world. Sensei didn't seal the Kyuubi inside of you to spite you, rather he entrusted its power to you so that you could learn to harness its chakra and bring the world to peace."

"Couldn't someone else bring peace to the world?"

"Sensei couldn't possibly ask another family for something he himself was not willing to give. It had to be you. Besides, the Jinchuuriki, or Biju host, has always been a close relative of the kage, in order to ensure loyalty to the village. "

'Loyal, don't make me laugh.' The blond clenched his teeth.

"So I was the sacrificial lamb huh. To protect the pathetic citizens of this village, and to make peace with the probably just as pathetic citizens of villages across the elemental nations, I've been condemned to a life of suffering. They will soon know, how sorely mistaken they were. I'll show them who I really am. And then they'll regret everything they did."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kakashi didn't know what to make of the conversation he had had with the blond. On one hand, his concerns were pretty genuine, especially when coming from a ten-going on eleven-year old. And that last sentence, it could have been taken in a completely positive light. After all, that's what the Sandaime had tasked him with. To somehow ensure that Naruto's goal was to change the views of the villagers, and show them that he was really just a normal human. But then why did he have that ominous and foreboding feeling, as if things were about to go downhill and out-of-control real fast….

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 _Several Days Later_

The academy would be starting the next day, and it was the tenth time that day that Naruto was tempted to go back to that neighborhood where his parents' house lay. That innate feeling, the craving to get to know your parents, who they were, what they were like, to feel that you were loved, by someone, sometime. To catch a glimpse of his mother, what she looked like….. His father…..

His feelings regarding his father were conflicted, truth be told. His father was the one who had sealed the Kyuubi inside him, damning him to a life of hell. He had been sacrificed. For the sake of the village. For the sake of these fools who barely understood the implications of being a Jinchuuriki. Who barely understood what he was holding back. Who barely thought of what would happen if he died. Who barely considered the fire they were playing with. A foolish lot indeed. And his life was destroyed for their sake. He would rather they have burned in hell.

Yet, he felt a craving to go back there. To find some epsilon of evidence that this was a misunderstanding. That his father had cared. That his mother had cared. Yet, he held himself back.

For a week, Naruto had been trying to keep track of the ANBU guards that Kakashi had mentioned were assigned to him. For the better part of the week, he could barely find any trace of them. Until one of them slipped.

A boar mask. A boar mask was all that gave it away. Ever since that day when he became aware of the ANBU trailing him, he decided to go on a pranking spree. There was barely a shop (other than Ichiraku's of course) that hadn't been subjected to the blonde's mischief, nor any clan for that matter. But this time, wherever he went he would look around and watch, trying to discern who followed him.

The ANBU were good. There was no doubt about that. For days, he could catch neither sight nor sign of them. Until one day Naruto spotted a man standing on the roof of a building opposite the store he had just entered. The man in question was garbed in full ANBU gear and wore a boar mask. Now this in and of itself was not so uncommon. Even though ANBU usually operated from the shadows, occasional sightings here and there in the village were not so far outside the norm, in fact, he suspected that most of these sightings were on purpose; the ANBU allowed the villagers to spot them on occasion to help them feel secure and know that they were being protected at all times. Also the fact that the ANBU agent was facing his direction and presumably staring at the door to the grocery store he was in wasn't so much of an immediate giveaway. Rather, it was the realization that he couldn't find the ANBU because he was looking in the wrong places. He was looking for someone to be shadowing him, following him around the streets and mixing among the common folk. But the fact of the matter was that they never frequented the roads at all. They would leap from roof to roof, and probably pass through forested areas, high up in the canopy, and so anyone who was not an experienced ninja (and even someone who was) would have a hard time finding them.

It was with this in mind that Naruto began his search anew. Focusing on areas that were not frequented, he saw a pattern. The ANBU he spotted, on the few occasions he did, keeping up the façade of ignorance of course, would always be wearing a boar mask. After seeing the boar mask about five times in four days, he was led to conclude that that was probably the only operative stuck with following him. He couldn't have been too highly skilled if he had managed to spot him. After all, keeping tabs on an eleven year old kid, Jinchuuriki or not couldn't possibly be too high on the Hokage's priority list. By the time a week had passed since his talk with Kakashi, and one day before the start of his third year at the ninja academy, Naruto had formulated a plan.

Early that morning, he prepared to leave right after breakfast. Creating an Earth Clone, he gave it instructions to go have breakfast at Ichiraku Ramen and then go on to buy groceries from the supermarket, and somehow arrive at the Uchiha compound at two o' clock. Having done that, Naruto climbed to the roof of his apartment building, lying low, and making sure he remained unseen. On his signal, his clone walked out the front door, making sure he was as conspicuous as possible, seemingly on his way to Ichiraku as per his routine.

Watching from afar, Naruto waited, and before long he was rewarded with the sight of a figure slinking out of a nearby tree, hiding behind alleys, and taking to the rooftops as it followed roughly, the Earth clone as it made its way through the village. Almost jumping for joy, he punched the air in success. Waiting several more minutes for good measure, the blond finally decided to set out for his destination. Having geared up beforehand, Naruto climbed out of his window, silently leaving from the back of the building.

It was a mere ten minutes later that Naruto under henge to look like an old man with a balding head stood outside the door to the house he had been yearning to visit for a week now. Looking around, making sure no one had followed him, he walked forward, placing his hand upon the doorknob. At once, he heard several metallic clicks, and the door swung open. Swiftly entering, the door closed behind him.

He was finally there. This was the home his parents had prepared for him. For them. He looked around. Even though it looked quite mundane from the outside, from the inside, it was anything but. As he walked into the entrance hall, which was flanked on either side by a doorway, leading to the drawing and living rooms respectively, he couldn't help but marvel at the sight before him. Now even though this wasn't a scene from out of some Daimyo's palace or the like, with the walls hidden behind portraits and suits of armor and jewels lining practically everything, it did give a sense of belonging to a relatively well-off family, that had no qualms about decorating their home with whatever suited their fancy.

Walking into the drawing room, he found it to be quite informative. At the center of the main wall was a portrait, a relatively large one at that, showing three people. A woman he immediately recognized as his mother, with her flowing red hair and purple eyes, there was no question who she was. Standing beside her was a man, about a head taller than her, his hand resting on Kushina's rounding belly. He too, Naruto recognized, from the Hokage monument, from his history books, but most of all, from having seen those features staring back at him from his bathroom mirror every morning. Minato Namikaze. The Yondaime Hokage. His father. What he felt about him….well he didn't want to go over that right now.

Next to his father, stood a man he didn't recognize, much taller than both his parents. A man with long white hair and an unorthodox Hitai-ate with the Kanji for oil inscribed on it. Nope, didn't ring a bell.

He moved on. On the wall beside the portrait was a window, opening into the garden at the side, though the years had certainly been unkind to what once might have been a fruit orchard. The tremendous amount of weeds and their length told him that much. The center of the room was occupied by a dining table big enough for ten, and on the final wall was a door that opened up to the kitchen.

The kitchen was pretty mundane. Just the way kitchens are supposed to be. Cabinets upon cabinets, and a stove and oven with a window opening into what was once the garden, and connected to the living room. Passing through these rooms quickly, Naruto arrived at the room he really wanted to see. There were three doors, two of them across the hall from each other, with one dead ahead. One labeled Minato's study, and the other, Naruto's Room, with the master-bedroom in between. The master-bedroom it was then.

Excitedly walking in, he found the sheets undone and dust settled everywhere. As if his parents had left in a hurry. He looked around. Above the king-sized bed, was another portrait, this time of only his parents, smiling before the camera. They looked like the happiest couple you could find.

On each of the two sidetables, there were items that revealed further insight into the personalities of his parents. He spent several more minutes going through them, ranging from a photo of what he presumed was his father's genin team to his mother's make-up supplies. He would have stayed there all day had he not suddenly remembered his appointment with the idiot Uchiha's elder brother he had this afternoon. Hurrying out of there into 'Naruto's room', he saw something that brought tears to his eyes. The walls all around held tons of decorations, with inscriptions of "Welcome Home, Naruto-kun" all around. Next to the wall opposite the door lay a crib filled with blankets and stuffed toys in every shape and size. ' _My parents truly did want me…'_ He sat there for what felt like an hour, his eyes tearing up until he finally got up and proceeded into the third room.

As Naruto entered 'Minato's Study', he came upon a scene of disarray that by far outclassed any other room in the house. A study table loaded with scrolls on things so complicated he couldn't make head or tail of any of them. Sifting through the pile of papers he could make neither head nor tail of, he realized there was nothing that caught his fancy here, so he began to check the drawers. Opening the topmost drawer in the study table, the blond found something that caught his eye, his name. _Naruto._ It was written on an envelope placed neatly on top of everything else, though the envelope itself showed signs of yellowing over time. The excited blond immediately snatched it out of its surroundings, and began to examine it. It was addressed to him that was for certain. ' _To Naruto Namikaze'._ Ripping it open, he took out the paper inside, which to his surprise, looked just as fresh as if it had been written yesterday. It began:

 _Dear Naruto,_

 _It is with great regret that I must inform you that I will not be able to live my life with you and watch you grow up like I had always hoped. Alas, my duty as Hokage to defend the village and everyone that resides in it supersedes my wish. Given the circumstances with the Kyuubi just a mile out from Konoha, and how suddenly it came about, I hope you will find it in you to forgive me. I don't know how to defend myself, but something has to be done, and I am the only one with the knowledge and power to be able to stop it. I only ask that you not consider it a burden I am placing on you, rather, think of it as an opportunity for you to utilize one of the most potent and vast chakra reserves the world has seen. Just know that whatever happens, I love and always have. It is my wish that the people of the village will regard you as a hero and really come to respect for the service you do them every day, by holding back the Kyuubi from escaping. I'm leaving this letter with your mother, sealed so that it will not erode, and will only open to your touch, and no one else._

 _Your Father,_

 _Namikaze Minato_

 _P.S. If your mom is being overprotective and not letting you study some of the more interesting jutsu, here's a spare key to the library behind the shelf. Enjoy!_

Reading through the letter one, then once more, then a third time, any misgivings he had about his father just disappeared. But it seems his father had miscalculated, for his mother had died during the Kyuubi attack leaving the blond jinchuriki to fend for himself in this cruel world. Nevertheless, he now had a house, a place where he felt he could belong, even though he couldn't live here. He now had a home.

 **And there.**

 **One thing that should be clear is that this will not feature a gay Sasuke, as some people might be inclined to think.**

 **However, what will happen to Sasuke, Itachi, and the other Uchiha is still being decided. Though I have a general idea, the individuals and their future is still subject to change.**

 **This is not a happy, Konoha-friendly Naruto fic though. Same can be said for Sasuke.**

 **Tell me what you guys think. Also, if you guys manage communities, and you like this fic, I'd really appreciate if you could add this story to your community.**

 **Also, I've made my own community. Do take a look. I'd like some favs on it. Well anyway.**

 **It's called,** **The Only Worthy Name That Hasn't Already Been Taken**

 **Well, I'm out.**


	5. Chapter 5: Apprenticed Part 1

**Vengeful Sage**

Chapter 5: Apprenticed

 **Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to GamaKishi….**

Having read through the letter addressed to him, and having resolved the pent up frustration he had been feeling for quite a while, Naruto fished through the envelope once more to reveal a mundane looking key. He knew what it was for. Without further ado, the blond walked over to the shelf behind the desk, observing the books stacked up on it. This agglomeration of books, scrolls, pamphlets and the like covered the entire shelf, with titles ranging from _Introductory Chakra Theory_ to _History of the Land of Fire_.

Giving the titles a once over, the curious blond realized that most of the things here could also be easily found at the Konoha Public Library, in fact, aside from several tomes on advanced chakra control, he had probably gone through most of the stuff here over the past several months. He realized that there were no scrolls detailing any Jutsu of any kind….!

 _'So this book shelf is just a decoy….. huh? The real library is somewhere else… Or as dad's letter said, behind the shelf.'_

Walking over to the narrow strip behind the shelf, which he noticed was completely hidden from the door, Naruto found himself facing a segment of the wall with nothing but a knocker on it. Lifting the knocker to knock, he noticed what would pass as a keyhole behind it. _'And Bingo!'_

Inserting the key in the keyhole, Naruto walked into what must have been any bibliophile's dream come true. Racks upon racks of knowledge, divided according to category and subject matter, with sections dedicated to Fuuinjutsu, Ninjutsu, Chakra Theory, History, Medicine, Natural Science and whatnot. Walking over to the desk situated in the middle, our resident Jinchuriki jumped into this proverbial well of knowledge.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A raven-haired boy with onyx eyes glared at the young man before him, beads of perspiration lining his brow. Aside from standing a head taller than him, and the trademark troughs running down his face, his opponent bore great resemblance to the boy. With the same eyes and hair color, though he had it long and tied into a ponytail, he stood in a relaxed posture, none of his appearance betraying the past hour of sparring he had undergone, unlike his younger adversary.

"That's quite enough sparring for today, Sasuke." The elder boy said as he walked away from the center of the field. Evidently displeased, Sasuke followed, joining the group of youngsters that stood nearby.

"Excellent work today, guys." The older brother continued, "I see improvement in each of you," pointing one by one to the two standing next to Sasuke. One was a blue eyed blond boy with a set whisker marks framing his cheeks, while the other was a raven-haired girl that looked only marginally older than the other two.

"Can't we train longer today, Itachi-nii? It's a holiday tomorrow and we're done with all of our homework for the weekend!" The girl whined.

"Yeah, I mean we've still got a lot of stamina to burn," exclaimed the blond ball of sunshine named Naruto.

"Kiyomi-chan, Naruto-kun! If the two of you would settle down, there is something new I want to start teaching you guys," Itachi explained, motioning the passionate ninja-in-training to calm down. "Naruto-kun, you remember I told you about chakra natures and a shinobi's affinity for them?"

"Yup. An affinity refers to which of the five chakra natures a person's chakra inherently leans towards and it also signifies which element he would be most easily proficient in."

"A proper textbook definition. I'm impressed. So do you also remember how to identify an affinity in shinobi?"

"Uh… I think it was some sort of awesome paper thing….." And all of that impression of genius that he had built up over the past minute deflated back to zero….

Nevertheless, nodding at the somewhat accurate though highly inarticulate response, Itachi extended his hand into his pocket to reveal a small envelope, which upon opening showed a stack of palm sized papers.

"Here, each of you take one. I think it's about time that your natures were determined and your training adjusted accordingly," as he handed out a piece each to the kids respectively.

It had been several weeks since Naruto first met Itachi at the Uchiha compound and since then, he had become a regular sight there on weekends, and a frequent visitor otherwise. He would often come here to train and make use of the expansive training grounds, often ending in a spar with Sasuke, who had taken Naruto to be a rival to measure his progress against. On weekends, Sasuke's elder brother, Itachi, who was a captain in the ANBU black ops, would be free and join in with the two, sparring with them, guiding them and offering advice when he felt the need.

Occasionally, Uchiha Kiyomi, Sasuke's second cousin and one year their senior would also train with them, seeing how the two of them were far more advanced than most their age. It was on one such occasion two weeks earlier that she had been introduced to Naruto and from then on, the three had formed a group that met nearly every day hone their skills as shinobi.

"I want each of you to channel chakra to your chakra papers like you would for the leaf balancing exercise. The outcome depends on each of your chakra natures. For fire, it'll burn. For wind, it'll tear in half. For lightning, it'll crumple up. For earth, it'll be ground to dust and for water, it'll dampen. Usually people only have one affinity as they start off, but as they grow up and train to become stronger, they may develop an affinity for multiple chakra natures. Anyway, go ahead and channel some chakra into the papers. Let's see. Sasuke, you first."

The raven haired preteen – with a smug look on his face – brought his hand forward and lo and behold, the chakra paper began to crinkle up, until it had shriveled up to about half its size and then, suddenly, it burst into flames. The result merely magnified the smirk on his face.

A look of surprise marred Itachi's face _, 'Amazing, at such a young age, Sasuke has such a powerful lightning affinity in addition to his fire affinity. It's sad that most Uchiha children are trained in their fire nature by default, without testing for any other dominant affinities they may or may not have.'_

"Hah, beat that, dobe!"

Next came Naruto's turn. As he extended his hand – a look of concentration on his face – the chakra paper was suddenly rent asunder in the span of a split second, leaving a set of bewildered onlookers.

There was a sign of visible disappointment on the jinchuriki's face as he realized Sasuke had outdone him in the number of nature affinities he possessed.

Itachi, however, who had his Sharingan activated during the test, noticed something peculiar. Walking up to the fallen pieces of paper, he picked them up, raising them up for the rest to see. They were charred, black as soot.

"It seems that Naruto-kun has a very powerful wind affinity, supplemented by a slight fire affinity."

"Yatta, I'm awesome!"

"It's peculiar though. The lack of a flame signifies that your fire affinity is recessive, and hasn't yet been developed much. This needs some further looking into. It may be that this is the cause of your highly explosive fireballs. You don't have a dominant affinity for fire nor do you possess sufficient mastery over it. In addition, you lack the chakra control required to compensate for either. Nevertheless, Kiyomi-chan, please go ahead."

As it turned out, Kiyomi like the other two, and like most other Uchiha children had a fire affinity, though any significant secondary affinity was absent at the moment.

Having tested the three of them and discovered their affinities, Itachi coughed out loud to gain their attention.

"Now that you guys know which element you each have an affinity for, it's paramount that you begin to train your mastery over the elements you have an affinity for. Try to learn jutsu that correspond to your respective elements, as they will be stronger than other elements and will come to you easier and more naturally."

"What about me, Itachi-nii?" Exclaimed an exuberant whisker-face. "I have wind, but I've already started practicing with fire techniques. And they come out fine…"

"Naruto-kun, when I picked up your sliced chakra paper, I found it burnt. This in itself is unusual though, given that there was no fire, meaning a lack of a dominant fire affinity, but a recessive one, which seems to be leaking out. Mind you, recessive affinities don't show themselves unless they have been trained whereas the dominant affinity hasn't."

"So does that mean I can still train in fire techniques?" He questioned hopefully.

"Yes, rather you'd better. Unless you do so, controlling your wind chakra will become nigh impossible. You must learn to be able to separate its leaking influence from when you don't intend to use it, else it will penetrate other uses of your chakra."

A pseudo blank face stared back at him. Yes, he had gone overboard….

"It seems that's enough for today. Kiyomi-chan, your brother has come to pick you up. We'll meet again next week. Hopefully you'll all have found an elemental jutsu you want to learn by then."

Just then, an above average height man with short unkempt dark-colored hair stepped into the clearing.

"Nii-san! You're back from your mission to Taki? When did you arrive?" The girl squealed as she leapt to embrace her brother.

"An hour ago at most." Done exchanging pleasantries with his sister, the man turned to the remainder of the occupants of the training field. "Ah Sasuke-kun, Naruto-kun, I see you guys have been training pretty hard today. I hope Itachi isn't driving you guys too hard…?" Seeing the sweat drops on each of their faces, he realized he had gotten his answer.

Itachi took advantage of the momentary lull in conversation to step forward, "Naruto-kun, remember that discussion we had about the new optional apprenticeship?"

 **Flashback:**

 _"Ne, Itachi-nii. You're a powerful jounin ninja right?"_

 _"Uh, I guess."_

 _"Well since today was the first day of our third year at the academy, Iruka-sensei said that anyone who wishes can miss the afternoon compulsory practice sessions if they get an apprenticeship under a chunin level ninja or above. The person you're apprenticed to would then have to vouch for you and confirm that you're training at the designated times and adept at any and all of the skills that were taught in classes and were meant to be reinforced during the practice sessions."_

 _"Yes, I know about the new policy Hokage-sama passed last week. Sasuke has been going on about how he wants to be my apprentice enough times for it to be impossible that I forget."_

 _"So you'll be my sensei? You're the best!" Shouting out for joy._

 _"Why do you want to become an apprentice , Naruto-kun?"_

 _"It's gonna be awesome! And I won't have to go to the practice sessions anymore..."_

 _'Oh God, he just wants to skive off classes...'_

 _"Naruto-kun. This apprenticeship was meant mostly for clan children or others who have special skills that they need to learn, usually skills that the academy instructors are not acquainted with You would be better off learning from your instructors."_

 _"But…but the instructors at the academy never teach me anything, they only tell me I'm no good and should drop from the program completely…"_

 _"I see… I'll see what I can do…."_

 _"So does that mean you accept?"_

 _"No, unfortunately, with my duties as an ANBU commander, as well as voluntary work for the Military Police, I don't have time to take up any pupils. I even had to reject Sasuke, who is now gonna learn from Otou-sama."_

 _AThe excited look in the blond's eyes deflated at hearing that and he began to turn away. Seeing the visibly dejected look, he added, "However, I'll see if I can do something about your situation…"_

 **End Flashback:**

"Naruto-kun, remember that discussion we had about the new optional apprenticeship?"

It had been almost a month since that conversation. "Yes, of course."

"Well, I've spoken with Kiyomi-chan's brother, and he's willing to become your sensei for this year. In fact, that's why he came here today."

"Really, Shisui-nii?"The sparkle in the boy's eyes returned in full force as he questioned the latest arrival. "You'll make me your apprentice?"

"Sure, I have the time, so why not. Unlike some people, I don't spend all my time at work…" Looking to the other jounin ninja.

"You're the best, Shisui-nii!" As he hugged the elder man.

By the side, a young girl stood glaring enviously. "Nii-san, how come you never made _me_ your apprentice?" She raged.

"Well, the new policy was just passed this week, meaning it applied to this year's third year batch." The girl didn't seem to buy his excuse, it seemed. _'Oh shoot, it was probably announced for the fourth year batch as well…'_

Seeing the 'no bullshit face' he got in response, Shisui added, "Plus ,you never asked."

"Well, I'm asking now then… Will you make me your apprentice, Nii-san?" In that sweet tone of voice that sent shivers down any man's spine.

Hell hath no fury like a women scorned – this was exemplified now as the Uchiha genius could not help but nod along to his kid sister's wishes.

"Well, that's that. Both of you need to write up an apprenticeship application and get it signed by me before this becomes official. Until then, no skipping classes Naruto!" And there went his mood for the rest of the day…

As they all retired back to their homes, Itachi was left alone to contemplate the results of the day's session.

 _'Naruto-kun is turning out to be quite interesting. A leaking fire affinity could only mean that it is inherited. A very powerful gene for the fire affinity has been passed down to him, though being diluted over generations again and again till it is no longer the dominant one… I must look into this further.'_

 _'Nevertheless, I hope Naruto-kun will turn out to be the rival that Sasuke needs to reach his true potential. That incentive that will keep pushing him to further heights, to grow stronger and stronger. It may be that one day, their friendship will be the one to redeem the Uchiha clan and Konoha. To bring them together, and unite them once more, like how it was back before Madara went rogue and cursed the rest of the clan to isolation, suspicion and decline…"_

 **And cut.**

 **Don't ask about the fire thing, just an idea I'm playing around with, it'll be explained later on in the story, assuming I actually have the muse to continue on so far. Anyway, I'm hoping that's not gonna put down my loyal readers, who can keep hoping that I do actually update.**

 **Also, if you like this story, you might want to check out my new Harry Potter story. It's called Shadow Mage, and features a pretty dark Harry.**

 **So, yeah. Please tell me how you like it. Point out any errors or inconsistencies if you find them.**

 **And if someone wants to be my beta, do please tell me.**

 **Thanks.**

 **I'm out.**


	6. Chapter 6: Apprenticed Part 2

**Vengeful Sage**

Chapter 6: Apprenticed Part 2

 **Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Konoha…well so far at least.**

 **To those reviewers who are afraid I am a 'Sas-gay' fan-boy, first of all I'd like to thank you for telling me what you think about my story. I appreciate your feedback. Secondly, I should clarify that your hatred of Sasuke stems from whatever happened in cannon. The Uchiha massacre in this story though, has yet to take place, and so Sasuke is not so important, and thus, will not be receiving such adulation, and as a result, Sasuke won't be so high strung as of yet. In cannon, Sasuke was favored so much because he was the last of a clan with an incredible useful and powerful bloodline, that is, the Sharingan. With a load of Sharingans available, Sasuke is only important because he is the _second_ son of the clan head, and for fangirls because they go crazy over just anybody who seems to be above average. As for why Sasuke is stronger than Naruto, well, this is still relatively early in the story, and Naruto has not had enough time to overtake him. I usually dislike overnight powerups, because they tend to be unrealistic. We can see that in terms of individual skills, Sasuke is sort of stronger, because he has had more time and attention, as well as motivation to compete with Itachi and earn his father's respect. Soon, though, with Naruto apprenticed under Shisui, that is going to change.**

 **Also, this is the last chapter that will be the same as the previous story, Vengeful Sage. From now on, updates will probably slow down as it is of yet unwritten. However, not to worry, I will try to keep you guys entertained, and keep updates timely (like once in a week or two).**

 **After that long author's note, let us continue with the story.**

It had been two weeks since Naruto had begun his apprenticeship under the famed shinobi, Uchiha Shisui. In these two weeks, he had settled into a routine, where he would wake up early every morning and study from the scrolls he had salvaged from the library in his parents' home. Leaving home at around 7, he would go to 'his' training ground and practice on his own as advised by his sensei. This mostly comprised of Ninjutsu training, endurance drills and numerous katas that Shisui had him ingrain into his subconscious muscle memory. In fact, his Taijutsu was, in Shisui's opinion, the single most crucial aspect of his training that required attention at the moment.

 **Flashback:**

 _"So, Naruto-kun, it's time we got our training started, but first, I need to know what level you're at. So, come at me with everything you've got." Shisui said as he adopted a lax but defensible pose._

 _Getting into a stance he had seen other students and teachers at the academy use, with both hands balled into fists and raised upwards in front of him, Naruto stood his ground. For all of one second, neither combatant moved, and then, Naruto charged._

 _Starting off with an uppercut aimed at Shisui's jaw, Naruto missed as his adversary took a step back. Swinging back again for another attempt, this time coming from the right, Shisui ducked underneath the attack and kicked his opponent away, leaving him flying away, only to crash into a trash can so conveniently placed at the edge of the field, littering its contents on the grass and on the blond himself as he rolled to a stop._

 _Grimy and covered in slime, the test continued on for five more minutes until Naruto decided he was far too outclassed to win using any conventional method. Realizing that if he wanted to stand a chance, he would have to put his creativity to the test, he came up with an idea. Rather, it was similar to the strategy he had already successfully executed against the ridiculously overpowered Lee kid with the green spandex jumpsuit and hideous eyebrows that bore great resemblance to living caterpillars . Bending low towards the ground, Naruto spun around in a circle ensuring that Shisui would have to either immediately back off or jump up off of the ground. As expected, it was the latter that Shisui adopted, leaving his safe place on the ground in place of backing away from an academy student._

 _This moment, however was what his student had been waiting for, and running through a set of hand seals he had practiced hundreds of times before, Naruto raised his hands to his mouth blowing out with all the power of a hurricane._

 _However, Shisui too, had not been lying idle as he descended back to the earth. He too quickly went through those hand seals, copying Naruto's every move as he raised his hands to his face. Finishing simultaneously,_

 ** _"Fuuton: Daitoppa!" / "Fuuton: Daitoppa!"_**

 _The elder man's jutsu pushed though the jinchuriki's, knocking the air out of him as it blew him into the ground. Standing up in a daze, he growled in frustration._

 _'I was absolutely sure I had him this time. There was no way for him to dodge, and not enough time to perform a jutsu unless he already knew what I was going to do in advance. Unless…. that's it! He knew what Jutsu I was gonna use because of his Sharingan.'_

 _"Hey, I'm just an academy student, how come you're using your Sharingan against me?"_

 _"What makes you think I'm using my Sharingan…. My eyes are as black as ever."_

 _Grunting at his failure after he thought he had cornered his enemy, Naruto charged once more, forgetting all about strategizing and finesse._

 _Rushing straight towards his opponent, the blond swung his fist forwards aiming for the stomach. Shisui, though, just remained standing there until just when Naruto's fist reached his stomach, he vanished, leaving neither trace nor smoke. Looking behind himself, Naruto found it was too late as Shisui bonked him lightly with the butt of his kunai._

 _He lay there for a couple seconds before his vision cleared enough for him to stand up._

 _"That's enough, Naruto-kun. This spar is over."_

 _A certain blond didn't seem to be too happy about that though, and his facial expressions appeared to be articulating that very thought._

 _"Let's analyze your fight and see what you did right and what you did wrong. First of all, I'll start by saying that that maneuver you just pulled there at the end was marvelous. It was overall a good strategy, and would work on most genin and even novice chunin. However, most experienced shinobi have come to expect such tricks and are prepared for them. So the reason why I was able to overcome it was because I had noticed your hands going into position for hand seals. Even without the Sharingan, most Uchiha have very keen eyesight and their optical synapses are wired for very high speed reflexes. As a result, since I knew what jutsu you were using given that your affinity is for the wind element and that is a fundamental jutsu that any wind user learns, I raced through the same hand seals, not copying yours, rather knowing which ones were to follow. For any shinobi, speed is of the essence, and it is usually the faster shinobi that has the advantage in a fight. Since I finished my hand seals a fraction of second before you, I launched the Daitoppa slightly before yours, not giving it enough time to mature and build up momentum. Nevertheless, I'm quite impressed with this part of the spar."_

 _The little tidbits of praise that could be found here and there in that lengthy explanation might have brightened up the blonde's day, had it not been for what followed._

 _"Your Taijutsu, however, was absolutely abysmal. There was no form to it. You would push your entire weight behind each blow, overextending yourself in the process, leaving yourself wide open for any and all counterattacks. You probably only manage to defeat your peers because of their own inexperience and your slight speed and power advantage over them. However, any experienced Taijutsu user would know when you haven't covered all your bases and capitalize on it, taking advantage of your vulnerability."_

 _'And he couldn't have been a bit nicer about it now could he….?'_

 _"Having said that, have no worries. The entire purpose of this apprenticeship is so that you could cement the concepts that you learn in the academy, and in your case, learn them from scratch. From tomorrow onwards, I need you to practice several basic Taijutsu katas I'll be providing you, and then maybe we'll move on to selecting a suitable style for you."_

 **Flashback End**

After finishing off his morning training, Naruto would go to the academy, where he would tend to fall asleep during most of the classes, especially the theory ones. A lot of the history, Naruto had surprisingly already read about in his search for rare jutsu over the past year, and especially after his discovery of the Uzumaki clan and his relation to it, he had devoted quite some time to reading up on its history and that of the clans and villages associated with it.

Chakra theory, he was just average at, and he would usually get the hang of the material that was covered in class, given that he wasn't asleep or kicked out for some reason or the other. Among his teachers, most would glare at him and go out of their way to make life difficult for the blond and giving him the cold shoulder on the best of days. One teacher, though, was completely indifferent to him, neither hating him, nor paying him much attention, especially ever since he had stopped playing pranks on him almost a year ago. His name was Umino Iruka.

What Naruto excelled at, as far as the academy syllabus was concerned was weapons. This included both hitting stationary and moving targets, as well as being able to dodge incoming projectiles ata very short notice. In fact, in the afternoon sessions he had with Shisui, that is what the two focused on. Shisui had realized quite early on that not only were Naruto's reflexes quite sharp, his eyesight and senses were well above average. Besides Sasuke, none in his class could outdo him when it came to weapon throwing, and due to his experiences evading vengeful villagers in his youth, not even Sasuke could dodge quite as well he could.

After the weapons class, he would go to the introductory chakra control class, where he faired worst of all. Despite paying full attention, as Shisui had stressed greatly on its importance, and trying just as much as the rest of the class, until the day before, he still ranked near the bottom of his year.

 **Flashback**

 _Naruto grunted in frustration as the leaf refused – for the umpteenth time - to stick to his forehead. As part of his class assignment, he along with the rest of the class had to practice balancing a leaf while having it stick to their forehead by use of chakra._

 _"Why doesn't this freakin' work! What am I doing wrong?"_

 _"You're using too much chakra, which is natural for Jinchuriki such as yourself. In order to avoid repelling the leaf from your body, you must regulate the flow of chakra so that it is much less than what you're currently putting out. Your chakra coils are just so large that you require an equal amount of effort to control it. This is necessary before you move on to learning ninjutu."_

 _"Why do I need to decrease my chakra? I can do Ninjutsu just fine without it. I've already mastered earth and water clones, Futon: Daitoppa, and Katon: Gokakyu no jutsu. Also, I'm working on Futon: Reppusho ( **AN: That's Gale Palm if you don't know** ) in order to supplement my weapon skills."_

 _"All of that is true, however, despite your large stamina, constant use of Ninjutsu tires you, and by learning chakra control, you can increase the number of times you can use the same jutsu before you exhaust yourself. Also, given a certain amount of chakra, you can make your jutsu bigger, wider and more destructive. On the other hand, you can also make your jutsu more subtle, quiet and capable of taking out your enemies without them even realizing it."_

 _That impressive list of benefits of chakra control did away with the blond's whiny face and sent him right back to work again._

 _"So all I have to do is decrease the amount of chakra right?"_

 _"Pretty much…"_

 **Flashback end**

That was yesterday. Finally knowing what it was he was doing wrong, he had seen marked improvement from before, though it must be said that Rome wasn't built in a day.

After his chakra control classes, he would be free to go home and train with Shisui-sensei. He would practice chakra control, weapons training and hone his Ninjutsu. After that, the two would spar with Taijutsu only for an half an hour. Sometimes, he would meet up with Sasuke and Kiyomi at the Uchiha clan compound to spar with them. In a no holds barred contest, Naruto could very well hold his own against the two of them, making use of diversionary tactics, Ninjutsu and sheer strength to make up for his still lacking Taijutsu form.

Today was a Friday, and like most weekdays when the busy Shinobi was available, after finishing up with the academy, Naruto was practicing with Shisui. Tossing out the dulled shuriken he had gotten from the academy, he yelled,

 **"Futon: Reppusho!"**

Expelling air from his palm to augment the speed and power with which the shuriken were thrown, Naruto managed to hit the crow he had been trying to hit for the past week. Akira, the crow had been summoned by Shisui to fly around and evade Naruto's throws and despite his excellent aim the crow had proven to be quite elusive.

"Bravo, Naruto." The dark haired man remarked as he clapped his hands in applause.

"I think it's finally time we begin training your wind element chakra."

"Woohoo!"

"What you must remember is that wind chakra is one of the most powerful offensive elements out there. Its effects range from powerful blunt force attacks to precise slicing blades that can cut through most anything. To begin, pick up a leaf, hold it between your palms and try to cut it in two using only your chakra. If you meet with very limited success, then try to mold chakra while placing your hands in the hand seal for dog, then go on with the exercise. It tends to help, since the dog hand seal is most used for wind jutsu."

After finishing up with his daily practice, Naruto set off on his way back home, leaving behind an intrigued Uchiha, staring at his retreating figure.

 _'I wonder if Itachi has received the test results yet. It's been almost three days now. It's pretty likely though that our theory is correct. I mean, what else could Naruto be? Given all the signs, I'm pretty sure they're gonna be positive…"_

 _XXXXX_

Given his lack of any home life, on any other day, he might have gone to chill out and watch clouds with Shikamaru or race with Kiba or even train with Sasuke, but today was special. Today was the day of the Kyuubi festival.

Today marked the anniversary of the day the Yondaime Hokage defeated the demon fox and sealed it in his gut, cursing him to a lifetime of hate. Today was his birthday. This day marked one whole year since he had found out about his tenant. One whole year since his first kill, one whole year since he stopped caring about the village, the Hokage, the villagers, his teachers and pretty much everyone else that refused to give him the time of the day. In fact apart from a select few, which included the Uchiha he was friends with, a handful of his classmates which he could count on one finger, the Ichirakus, and others like Kakashi, Guy and Lee, his relationship with practically everyone else had evolved into nothing more than a formal one, and he was happy to keep things that way. Since that first day, he had not really been attacked like that again, though there had been two or three isolated incidents in the time between. One time he had been able to escape any and all confrontation entirely, but the other time he was faced with a drunken chunin, who he had no choice but to fight.

Taking advantage of the fact he was a drunk whose reflexes and sensory perception had been dulled by a night's worth of alcohol, he had been able to trounce him with some of the traps he had grown proficient in setting during his pranking days. The rest as left up to pure Taijutsu, the precious little that he did know, leaving the man unconscious in a random alley in the red-light district of Konoha. Thankfully, since the man was drunk, he had no memory of the events that transpired the previous night.

Regardless, he had expected a similar event to occur today, so he had decided to return home early today, locking his doors and windows, while trapping the periphery of the apartment lest there be some uninvited guests that come knocking on the door.

Having done that, he returned to leafing through the notes on introductory Fuuinjutsu he had salvaged from his father's library. A very useful composition on the topic was written by the Sannin Jiraya titled, " _Fuuinjutsu for Dummies",_ where the basics leading up to intermediate and complex elements of the art were explained in a largely practical manner such that students who were not 'prodigies' as such when it came to abstract concepts and theories.

In fact, Naruto had learned much from this book, and had grasped most of the basics of Fuuinjutsu, taking to it like a fish to water. Over the past month, Naruto had gone from someone who barely knew what sealing meant to someone who could easily prepare basic sealing scrolls, explosive notes, proximity alarms and chakra inhibitors. Barrier jutsu, he was still learning.

Regardless, time passed by, and Naruto lost himself to his perusal of the Toad Sage's remarkable text on Fuuinjutsu. It was only while he was having his homemade two-minute ramen for dinner, that the sound of boisterous laughing invaded the silence that permeated the apartment for hours. Peeking outside the window, he noticed roundabout a dozen men carrying pitchforks and knives lining his doorway. A smirk crept onto his face as they approached - having no idea they were walking into the den of a lion. No longer would the Jinchuriki bear with the villagers and their stupidity. No longer would he tolerate those idiots and the sorry excuse for a brain they possessed. No, from now on, he would give what he took, and he would repay just what he received. Today onwards would be payback!

 **And cut.**

 **If you've liked the story so far, please take out a couple seconds to favorite and follow the story. A review or two wouldn't hurt either. I'm not writing this story to stoke my ego, but yeah, having a lot of people appreciate your story is a real morale booster for authors…**

 **As far as the timeline goes, it's been a year since when Naruto was attacked in the first chapter, and he began to not care for those that didn't care for him. Several people have said that he is still making friends, and they want him to become dark right away. Well, that's not the way the world works, especially with young kids. Even Sasuke, who was so hell-bent on revenge, was able to form bonds which remained until an incident took place that shook those foundations and reasserted his vengeful character once more. So have patience, time will reveal all.**

 **Also,, it's quite exciting for an author whose story you've read to actually favorite or follow your story. It gives you confidence about your writing skills. Thus, here's a shoutout to heavydestro, who is the first such author to do so.**

 **And if someone wants to be my beta, do please tell me.**

 **Thanks.**

 **I'm out.**


	7. Chapter 7: Uchiha Part 1

**Vengeful Sage**

Chapter 7: Uchiha

 **Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Konoha…well so far at least.**

 **bigfan22: You may find here what you came looking for.**

As the large group of men approached the apartment from outside, a smirk of epic proportions appeared on Naruto's face. It was a mere matter of seconds before the first proximity ward came into effect, raining down a batch of kunai upon the wretched soul who had first triggered the apartments defense mechanisms.

Those following behind the apparent leader could do nothing but watch as he was riddled with the ninja knives, downing him on the spot. However, due to a combination of the years of bottled up vengeance and of course, the not so little amounts of alcohol that had been consumed, rather than warning them of the doom they were about to submit themselves to, the horrible bloody sight of what was now the kunai riddled corpse did nothing but further fuel their rage, lowering their inhibitions even further.

Most of the men had suffered loss at the hands of the Kyuubi attack over a decade ago. Some had lost parents, others children, others siblings. Some had lost their wives, some had lost their friends. Many had lost their homes. Others had lost their businesses. In fact, there was barely a household in all of Konoha that hadn't been affected. To them, this day was a constant reminder of all that they had lost, and the Jinchuriki boy was no different. Some were stupid enough to believe he _was_ in fact the Kyuubi. Others, felt that he would lose control any minute and feared a repeat of what happened eleven years ago. Most of Konoha though, simply despised him as a living reminder of what had once been, and how it had so abruptly and without warning, come to an end, snatched away into the far reaches of the afterlife, bringing them to despair of ever reuniting with what or whom they had coveted most.

The remaining men threw all caution to the wind as they charged as one, making for the door. On the way, two more unfortunate souls fell prey to the traps, incrementing by two, the number of dead porcupines in the elemental nations. As the lead figure reached the doorway and tested the doorknob, lock breaking apparatus in hand, something peculiar took place. The door swung open without a hitch.

"Hah, the demon didn't even lock the door. He must have realized how futile it would be."

As the leader entered, so too did his minions. With the remainder of the men having entered the apartment, the door slammed shut behind them. The lights were off and the entire room plunged into darkness.

"I can't see - "

"Somebody light a match - "

"It's awfully dark in here - "

And so, our resident Jinchuriki's nighttime assailants stumbled around in the darkness for several minutes, until finally, one of them managed to fish out a lighter from his pocket. Flicking it on, they realized that it was woefully insufficient – they could just barely make out the outlines of the room and each other's' faces. They scrambled around in silence for a bit more, trying to search for a door leading into the interior of the apartment, where their prey resided.

The momentary silence though, was shattered by an unearthly scream as one of their number collapsed to the ground. Turning the miniature light source in his direction, they found him spasming on the ground, his limbs jerking violently as a spray of blood was pumping out of his barely attached neck. His jugular had been cut.

"No…., Hiroshi! Somebody help!"

But it was in vain. Nothing could be done. Severe loss of blood pressure as the man's life fluid gushed out onto the floor quickly shut down the brain, sending him into unconsciousness. He would be dead in another minute.

Panic began to set in, as the man who had called for help tried to drag his friend out of the house. Aside from the two or three fanatically hateful members of the group who continued onwards, the rest felt that killing the demon container wasn't worth losing their lives over like the four of their number that had so far been slaughtered without mercy.

Half of those that remained now began to sober up, the death of a third of their group catalyzing the eventual awakening from their drunken stupor. As the men scrambled to escape, carrying their dying comrade along with them, they were jolted into immobility once more as another spine chilling howl resounded around them, signifying the demise of another accomplice.

For several seconds, they stood like that frozen in place. Then they ran, dropping all their luggage, be it animate or dead, the only thought on their mind was to save their lives. Until - one after the other- the intruders each ran into a wall, blocking their way out, a wall that if they remembered correctly, and they had their bearings right, hadn't been there moments before.

Just then, a flare of dazzling white light flooded the room, revealing to all what they had walked into.

XXXXX

Naruto Uzumaki, or should he say, Namikaze, felt quite ambivalent concerning the events that had unfolded over the past half an hour. When he had first noticed the group of intruders approaching his door, he had felt nothing. Annoyed maybe, but not hurt or saddened in any way. He should have though, and two years prior, he would have. After all, he had tried so hard to earn recognition in the village of his birth, and despite his utmost efforts, he had been consistently rebuked. He had received no appreciation for the work that had anyone else put into their studies, they would have garnered widespread acclaim among its residents. In contrast, the villagers' hate continued to fester, manifesting itself in the demon hunts that were not so uncommon during his youth. He should have been saddened immensely.

However, that phase had passed. He had grown to expect the villagers' reaction, and schooled his emotions to react accordingly. No longer would he be driven to tears as a result of what others felt or thought about him. Whoever left him well alone, he would not bother with. Whoever transgressed against him, he would repay the favor multi-fold.

And so it was that a dozen transgressors entered his field of divination. None would he permit to live through the night. One by one three fell to the traps he had set up outside, leaving the door open. Once he was sure they had all entered the house, he began to spring his trap in earnest. Several earth clones that he had positioned in the living room lay hidden, awaiting the perfect time to strike, while Naruto himself went through a chain of hand seals, finally ending with his hands slamming into the floor of the apartment, an array of seals spreading from the point of contact. Barrier erected, the blond stood up. Two more screams he had heard in the meanwhile signified that his clones had been hard at work. The rest, he would deal with personally.

He had already flipped off the circuit breakers quite some time ago, leaving his enemies floundering in the dark. He on the other hand, could see them well enough to be able to pick them off, one after the other. Whether this was a result of the years he had spent on full alert, through night and day, especially when he was younger and couldn't defend himself, a side effect of having the Kyuubi sealed in his gut or whether he was just that awesome, he didn't know. Regardless, his keen eyes allowed him to easily slaughter his enemies without any need for turning the lights on, as evidenced by the panic his clones had created, but where was the fun in that? He wanted to see his would-be tormentors suffer. He wanted to see the looks of fear on their faces, just as they would delight in his suffering back when he was weak helpless.

He flicked on the lights, stunning the remainder of the men into inaction. They, for the first time that day, saw the face of the _'demon'_ they had come to slay. If that wasn't enough, they could see the red transparent barrier that had been erected around them, cutting off any and all hopes of escape. It had been a mistake coming here, and they knew it.

Before Naruto could enter into what would surely be a one-sided encounter, his proximity wards gave warning that someone else was approaching his door. Someone with a sizable chakra signature. He of course knew who it was. After all, he had been sensing this particular signature for over a month now.

Knowing now that he had no more time to play with his prey, Naruto advanced onto the remaining men. Some resisted, while others merely cowered in the rear, as one after the other, they were each cut down like flies. Stepping over the last of the corpses, his boots plunging the kunai poking out of its abdomen even further in, he wiped his bloody hands on his clothes, as he walked up to meet the latest intruder into his home.

He was obviously male, with an evident lack of hair anywhere near his shoulders, let alone below that, standing at an average height, i.e., about a head and a half taller than the blonde. He wore a grey Konoha flak jacket over black clothes, along with metal gauntlets and gloves. On his back, there was a tanto, sheathed, though easily accessible for a quick draw. However, his most distinctive feature by far, was the porcelain mask that covered his face from the Jinchuriki. This mask however, failed to hide who this was from him. He had after all, been throwing him off of his trail for over a month by now. The familiar bear mask made it clear that this was the selfsame operative come to mess with his life once more.

Naruto knew why he was here. His proximity wards had sensed his presence long ago. He was after, standing _'guard'_ over the Jinchuriki. However, that role of his did not compel him to stop the intruders at his door, nor deal with them as any law enforcement officer would be expected to. He had bided his time outside, leaving his _'ward'_ to the mercy of the would-be assassins, only entering upon hearing their screams, realizing that it was too much to hope that mere civilians would be able to off the demon container, the one who held the bane of his existence in his abdomen.

XXX

Bear was a loyal shinobi of Konoha. He loved the village, and he would give his life for it. He was born in a middle class family of merchants, who had a thriving business that supported them. He was an only son, so his parents had spoilt him much, getting him whatever he wanted, even if they had to stretch their pockets to do so. They had loved him, and he them. In other words, life had been perfect. Until the demon attacked.

The fox had appeared without warning, spreading mayhem and unparalleled destruction throughout the village, though most of it concentrated around the peripheral parts, which was where his parents and their shop were. They hadn't stood a chance. Everything he had known in life had been ripped away from him, leaving him an orphan with nowhere to go.

While he agonized in his loss, the demon and its container walked free, weaving an illusion of innocence wherever it went. His heart would boil over at that thought. No one felt the need to deal with the demon. Nobody realized that the damage that the village had taken at the hands of the Kyuubi eleven years ago could very well be repeated once more if the demon decided to show its true colors. The security of Konoha was at stake, and more importantly his sweet cold vengeance was at stake.

He had decided to become a ninja, despite being late for the standard enrollment, he had managed to worm his way in and unlock his chakra, though it was later than most. He had graduated at the middle of his class, and despite a lack of any ninja background like the rest of the toppers in his class, managed to keep going out of sheer willpower, and it was that very quality that allowed him into the ANBU.

Currently, his orders were the following. Watch over the demon's house, and if approached by the villagers, allow them some liberty. If they manage to overcome and injure Naruto, then make sure he doesn't die, and bring him back to the hospital. On the other hand, if he manages to escape their attempt on his life, try to keep them alive and put a stop to the fighting.

He however, had his own plans. The Sandaime had gone soft, too soft for his own good and far too soft for the good of Konoha. He had to take matters into his own hands. He had gone to one of the elders who opposed the Hokage for his weakness and inaction and spilled his heart out to him. The wise and esteemed elder had agreed with him and encouraged him. Together, they had made the perfect plan to fulfill his vengeance. While he would somehow get rid of the demon - who was still an academy student - and pin it on him, claiming that the container had attacked him without warning and he had merely defended himself from the already highly injured Jinchuriki, the elder would keep the Hokage occupied so as to make sure he doesn't get a chance to look into his crystal ball and see what actually took place.

When the villagers arrived at the apartment, Bear had been ready. A minute later when three of them had been perforated with a hail of kunai and shuriken, leaving him no time or even opportunity to save the brave villagers, he had been quite shocked. The Jinnchuriki, before today had never, to his knowledge displayed any homicidal tendencies, nor had he booby-trapped his apartment before. Today had been a first.

He wanted to go in and save the rest, but he waited. Continuing the mission won out over saving the villagers. It was for the greater good after all. Besides, once they got into close range, the demon wouldn't be as lucky as he had been. An academy student, while being experienced with projectile weapons, was nowhere good enough at Taijutsu to fend off a dozen grown men. All in good time.

It was a couple minutes later when he heard their screams and the sounds of panicked footsteps moving around that he raced for the door. Something wasn't right and he intended to make it so.

Upon finding the door locked, he checked for the windows, which to his relief, had not been blocked somehow. Kicking it in, he shattered the glass into uncountable pieces, while his boots prevented them from piercing him. Jumping in, he found two men standing their ground before the monster, while the rest were no more than bodies strewn across the floor, trails of blood leading away from them, indicating that they had been cut down while bleeding out as they escaped. Encompassing this entire scene was a wall of red, which though transparent, was sufficient to indicate it status as a barrier of some sort.

Cautiously, Bear approached the barrier, tossing a kunai at it while standing at a safe distance. To his surprise, it penetrated the barrier without facing any resistance, as if nothing was there. Shocked, he himself slowly walked up to it and eased himself in.

' _It was as easy as that - ? The brat's foolish attempts at self- preservation apparently failed…'_

Meanwhile, Naruto had dispatched the remainder of the men, leaving just the two of them standing inside the seemingly failed barrier. None of the men were left alive, he had made sure of that. As the two figures stared each other down, they knew that the moment of truth had come. There would be no diplomacy here. The blond knew that the ANBU was here on orders from the Hokage. The ANBU knew that the demon was getting stronger with each day that passed and the danger to the village was increasing exponentially.

"You demon! What have you done?" Bear shouted, enraged that the villagers had died in vain. There was not a scratch on the Jinchuriki's body, nor was he tired by the least bit. The villagers, who had shared his own sentiments, his own loss, had been of absolutely no service to the leaf, despite laying down their lives for a most noble cause.

Not waiting for or expecting a response, Bear sprinted up to the blond, spinning in mid-air to open up with a flying spin kick. His opponent, however, had the cognition to jump back avoiding his attack and putting some distance between himself and the man. Wasting no time, Bear continued, jumping forwards once more. Leaping to the side, Naruto replied with a handful of shuriken aimed at the spot the ANBU would land at.

Seeing the oncoming ninja stars, the man withdrew a kunai from his weapons pouch, aiming to deflect the projectiles. What he didn't know was that Naruto had augmented the shuriken with a favorite technique of his, **Fuuton: Reppusho.** The additional velocity and momentum that the projectiles had gained was more than enough to elude the newly recruited ANBU's perception, stabbing him in five different places on his body. Two pierced his right arm, while the others landed on his torso.

' _Ah, ****! He enhanced their speed and penetration power with chakra. He's stronger than I thought. All the more reason to take him out while we still can.'_

Giving out a shout of pain, he steeled himself, as he prepared to up the gears a little but. He had underestimated the brat's capabilities, and it had cost him the mobility of his arm. Though nothing vital had been hit, he was still at a serious disadvantage. Knowing that playtime was over, Bear drew his tanto with his left hand. Though he was right handed by nature, he had trained himself to be able to wield a sword with both hands.

Adopting the stance he had been perfecting since back when he was a genin, he waited for his opponent to make his move. Naruto on the other hand, had been training under Shisui Uchiha for some time now, and if anything, the most important lesson he had drilled into the blond's head was the virtue of patience. To be able to feel your enemy out without exposing yourself to risk was an essential quality for any successful shinobi, though most spirited youngsters failed to comprehend it. This was a lesson he had needed to hammer in quite forcefully.

One thing that he did know was this. He was facing an ANBU, no matter how inexperienced or unimpressive he may seem, he couldn't afford to hold back. If he did, he would be making the same mistake his opponent did and that wouldn't bode well for the young ninja in training.

He knew that he would never be able to out-skill someone vastly senior to him so soon. He knew that his chances lay in the element of surprise, and the fact that his opponent would underestimate him. That was what he needed to capitalize on. Secondly, he would play to his strengths. Having already injured him right from the beginning, he merely needed to draw out the fight long enough for the blood loss to be a significantly decisive factor in the fight. The operative having lost mobility in his right arm didn't hurt either.

Summoning up a mud clone, the two blonds began the charge against Bear. Engaging in hand to hand was a no-no, especially seeing the flashing sword their opponent was waving around. Both drew a kunai each and went in. A series of back and forth strikes ensued, continuing on for about five minutes, before the first blood Despite his caution, it was the original that took the first hit, as the tanto descended onto his head, he dodged to the right, but he wasn't fast enough though, and the sword lodged itself in his shoulder, sinking into flesh like a hot knife in butter, striking bone. The bastard was channeling chakra through his blade.

By the time his clone managed to kick away his adversary, he had received another slash to his chest, which though not quite as deep, was bleeding profusely. Naruto could no longer cope with close-range combat. One of his clones stationed outside the barrier saw that, and immediately substituted out with him, allowing the original some relief as the ANBU was left to deal with his two clones.

On the Jinchuriki's command, one more of his clones entered into the barrier, offering further distraction to the blond's would-be killer.

Bear immediately realized something was wrong when the Naruto he had grievously injured earlier appeared suddenly to be completely unhurt. Looking around, he found what he was searching for outside the fancy walk-through wall, and so he abandoned his fight with the clones and made for his target, lest he should escape his fate. Breaking into a full out run, he was losing the clones that followed behind him, desperately attempting to arrive in time to save the original, and it appeared that the demon container himself knew this, as instead of having his clones cover his tracks while he escaped, he began to run through a set of hand seals like his life depended on it.

It was all in vain though, as Bear would not allow him enough respite to complete them. Clones dead on his heels, he leaped the final three yards to his prey when halfway through his flight, he rammed into the red wall that had somehow gone solid. As his head, being hinged on his neck was jerked backwards, he lost his balance, and in the momentary lapse in special awareness that followed, Naruto's clones had overtaken him, two trying to grapple him into submission while the third repeatedly stabbed him in the chest, puncturing his lungs.

This couldn't persist for long, as despite his handicap, he was still stronger physically than the academy student, and managed to throw them off and slash at his third attacker, reducing him to a pile of mud, his tanto stuck in the substance.

Though his clones had been overpowered in a matter of seconds by the cornered animal, it didn't matter. They had given him and his clone by his side all the time they had needed to prepare their jutsu.

" **Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu! / Fuuton: Daitoppa!,"** they both shouted in unison.

Without warning, an inferno of what would seem to be cataclysmic proportions erupted within the barrier, hitting the ANBU operative at point blanc range. For all of a minute, Bear knew nothing but pain, pure unadulterated agony as the unidirectional permeability of the barrier allowed anything to enter, but nothing to exit, leaving the infernal hurricane to rage on within it, neither passing on nor dissipating away as the desperate blond continued to pour a sea of chakra into his jutsu, cooking him as in a pressure cooker. Then, Bear knew no more.

As the immensely destructive conclusion of the battle came to an end, there was no man left standing. The clones inside the barrier stood not a chance in the face of the fearsome firestorm, and the one outside had dispelled halfway through, having exhausted its chakra reserves. Anyone not a Jinchuriki lay dead, while the blond in question had fallen to the floor, coughing up blood as his injuries had just gotten from really bad to fatally bad, as he continued to bleed out onto the floor.

Nobody noticed as the figure hidden in the darkness retreated, having gathered all the info his master had asked for, without having to step in and interfere with the fight, nobody but the still conscious young boy whose proximity wards the figure had unknowingly breached.

XXXXX

Uchiha Shisui had arrived back from a two day mission to the capital of Hi no Kuni just this morning, and after completing some of his own personal training, had chilled out until he had to oversee Naruto's and Kiyomi's training. Somewhat satisfied with his day, he had spent the day with friends, especially given that the village was full of celebration and merrymaking that evening in commemoration of the day that the village had been saved from utter annihilation at the hands of the Kyuubi no Kitsune.

Speaking of the Kyuubi, his thoughts wandered over to the human sacrifice that housed the demon fox, isolating its influence from the rest of the village. Over the past month or so, both he and his younger sister Kiyomi had grown quite fond of the boy in question. His jolly mood kept everyone in lively spirits and motivated others to work just as hard as he would. But below that façade, he could sense an ocean of repressed feelings of hate and resentment. A shimmering desire for revenge.

He wanted to cleanse him of those desires, though he would admit they were certainly not unwarranted. In fact he could think of no reason why the Hokage refused to do anything about the unrelentingly malicious behavior that the villagers adopted when dealing with Naruto. Despite the law he had passed years ago, forbidding anyone from spreading word of the Jinchuriki, it had been broken time and time again, yet there was no disciplinary action.

Speaking of Naruto, he wondered where he had lost himself at the moment. He knew that the there was no place for him at the Kyuubi festival, given his status as its Jinchuriki, and so, he had invited him over to his place for dinner. That was yesterday, and it seemed that he had forgotten. Either that or some unsavory circumstances had come along, preventing him from showing up. Waiting until right before dinner was to be served, and that was saying something, given that he was used to eating pretty late, he decided to check for himself what the matter was. He couldn't completely rule out the possibility that Naruto was merely depressed and had holed himself up in his apartment for some reason or the other.

Setting out for Naruto's apartment in the Red light District of the village, he could still see and hear the aftereffects of the festival. As his destination grew nearer, the signs grew ever clearer. Drunks were out on the streets, even couples out in various states of undress occupied the alleys. To his horror, a gang of four men had surrounded a woman, who had a pleading look on her face as they forced themselves on her unclothed form. Shisui, being the gentleman that he was, couldn't stand for this, and in a smokeless Shunshin, appeared between them, striking the neck of each into unconsciousness.

"Are you ok? Miss…"

A nod, followed by a set of sobs was all he received in response. It was understandable. She would be undergoing a highly traumatic experience. He gave her his shirt, so as to cover her modesty.

With a flare o his chakra, he summoned the nearest ANBU operative in the vicinity. A fox masked individual appeared in under half a minute. Being an ANBU captain surely had its perks.

"These thugs here were found to be raping this young woman here. Please round them up and incarcerate them at HQ. I will deal with them in the morning."

"Hai, Taichou."

Turning to the woman in question, he inquired.

"Where do you live?"

Following her silent directions as he escorted her to her home, Shisui found himself standing right across from a very familiar apartment building. After all, this was the very place he would often drop off an exhausted blond after hours of rigorous training. What a coincidence. Convenient too.

Dropping her off, he entered his student's apartment, noticing a trail of blood leading up to the door, as if an injured or dead body had been dragged inside. On full alert, he went inside to see a pile of dead civilians in the corner, as well as tables turned over and the floor singed as if from a fire.

Extending his senses he could feel a very slight chakra signature, which seemed to be extinguishing itself.

' _Naruto!'_

A sense of urgency in his step, he followed the chakra signature to stumble upon a body lying on the floor bleeding out from multiple wounds. It was unmistakably Naruto's, and he was sporting a fatal wound on his chest, and an almost as serious one on his shoulder. He needed to be treated immediately, else, even the Kyuubi's healing might not be able to save his life.

' _Who could have done this? Mere civilians could never have overpowered Naruto like this, especially if he used his clones. This is the work of a shinobi. I must report this to Hokage-sama.'_

He created a shadow clone, leaving it to clean up behind the house, as he lifted the boy onto his back, setting out for the hospital. Taking to the rooftops, he arrived in under five minutes. Dropping his ward off at the ICU ward, and making use of his Kotoamatsukami to _'convince'_ the doctor to look after him, he waited.

Meanwhile, memories from his Shadow Clone popped into his head. His Kage Bunshin had piled up all the civilians in the corner, and used a water jutsu to clean away all traces of blood. However, he started when he saw an animal mask, behind which were dead, soullless eyes staring up into his. Digging up the body from beneath the rubble from the partially collapsed roof, he found an ANBU operative burned completely to a crisp.

Shisui barely knew Bear, he was a new recruit after all, and he had yet to be assigned to his squad for a mission. He seemed out of focus and frustrated for a couple days though, which showed in the ANBU training sessions, but he had given it no second thought. Now though, he could formulate a pretty good guess as to what was cooking in his head, and it wasn't pretty. Stashing the ANBU's corpse in a closet, the clone dispelled itself, leaving its memories for the original to peruse and think over.

The Uchiha shook himself out of his thoughts as the nurse he had placed under a genjutsu as well approached him, telling him that his ward had bled out so much, he required a blood transfusion, and immediately at that.

"Uchiha-san, I need to know what his blood group is so that we can arrange for a donation. He already has lost so much blood, that extracting some more to run a test would be highly dangerous."

"I'm not sure… but my own blood group is O. That means that I can donate my blood to him, does it not?"

"Yes it does. If you wish to go ahead with this, please follow me."

An hour later, Naruto's condition had stabilized. Shisui had had to donate double the standard amount, his loss had been so substantial. With a respectable amount of blood back in the Jinchuriki's body, his tenant's efforts could finally be geared more towards healing and closing up his wounds. Soon, his cuts had closed up, with the help from several stiches not unwelcome.

Hearing a rustling of sheets as Naruto moved around, Shisui stepped up to his bed. Naruto's eyes were blinking open, a flash of red flaring behind his eye lids, opening to reveal a tomoe in each one..

' _The Sharingan!'_

 **And Cut, breaking 30k words.**

 **Sorry for the late update. I was caught in a gas cylinder explosion flying shrapnel cut up my arm, which I had to get stitched, putting my plans back by a bit. Then I was faced with the monster that is exams, for additional courses I'm doing online. Juggling that with my summer internship while having an injured arm got pretty hectic, so yeah.**

 **So this is Naruto's third year at the academy, making him now eleven years old. He entered at eight, turning nine soon after.**

 **Also, I'm really in need of a beta right about now. The timeline is getting messed up, ideas jumbled, mistakes (both logical and syntactical) afoot, and explanations for the conspiracies I've entangled this story in need to be straightened out. Unless I go into hiatus and sort things out, I need a beta. Any volunteers?**

 **If you've liked the story so far, please take out a couple seconds to favorite and follow the story. A review or two wouldn't hurt either. I'm not writing this story to stoke my ego, but yeah, having a lot of people appreciate your story is a real morale booster for authors…**

 **Please also check out my Harry Potter story, Shadow Mage, if you're into the dark genre.**

 **Thanks.**

 **I'm out.**


	8. Chapter 8: Uchiha Part 2

**Vengeful Sage**

Chapter 8: Uchiha Part 2

 **Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to 'moto…**

 _ **Recap:**_

 _Naruto's eyes were blinking open, a flash of red flaring behind his eye lids, opening to reveal a tomoe in each one._

' _The Sharingan!'_

To say that Uchiha Shisui was shocked was an understatement. When he had rushed Naruto over to the hospital, coerced half the staff into giving him emergency treatment, and provided him his own blood at a minute's notice, he did not expect in the least that his pupil would awaken possessing his clan's feared doujutsu - the eyes that had bestowed notoriety of the highest sort to those that wielded them. He did not expect him to awaken that night at all. His wounds after all _had_ been pretty serious, not to mention how long he may have lay there bleeding out onto his floor.

However, it would be inaccurate as well to say that the fact transcended his wildest imagination. After all, he had been speculating quite extensively over the past week concerning what seemed to be Naruto's enigmatic bloodline. He just needed some confirmation before all became clear.

As Naruto fell once more into that state of semi-unconsciousness he had been going in and out of, the man turned his attention to arranging for that confirmation. Running through a quick set of hand seals, Shisui slammed his hands on the floor, summoning an above average sized crow (think the size of your book bag) into the hospital ward.

"Shun-san, I need you to find Itachi-san and inform him that there has been an emergency and lead him back here. Also, tell him to bring back the results I was expecting for tomorrow morning."

Giving him a nod of consent, the swift messenger crow spread his wings, leaping up and swooping out the window it had blown open in a gust of wind. Riding the currents, it cawed into the sky, circling the horizon once as it sensed out its intended target.

XXXXX

Naruto awoke to find the first rays of sunshine piercing his eyelids as he finally regained full consciousness. He had floating in and out of cognition for a while now, and seemed to remember snippets of conversation that had been taking place, but it was all so hazy and surreal, the images barely coalesced together to even classify as a memorably vivid dream, let alone leave any solid framework that would serve as a reliable memory.

Thus, he – not for the first time in his life – wondered where he was, why he was lying there, and how he had gotten there, and – just like all the previous such instances – he came to conclude the very same thing.

The absolute whiteness of everything around, coupled with that unmistakable smell of disinfectant didn't leave him with much room for imagination.

He was in the hospital because he got beaten up and wasn't strong enough to get up afterwards, so someone had to haul his ass back here to make sure he didn't end up dead. Probably the Hokage. Well, it was him the last couple of times.

He could feel some pain in his shoulder as well as his chest, and checked to see that both were wrapped up in bandages. Slowly, the events that had transpired the previous night became clearer, and he remembered everything from the moment those idiotic villagers had entered his apartment to his final deathblow against the ANBU that had attacked him. Bear, it had been him. The same ANBU that had been following and watching him for at least two months now. Watching him on the Hokage's orders no doubt! Had the attack been on the old man's orders as well?

Did that even make sense?

As he lay there thinking, he could hear two pairs of just barely audible footsteps fading into existence as they slowly grew nearer to the door. Hushed voices were soon to follow, till finally, the doorknob turned and the two men he had least expected entered the room.

"Ah, I see you're finally awake, Naruto." Shisui's eyebrows raised in surprise. Walking in, the two took a seat each at the chairs that lined his bedside. It appeared this was not their first visit of the night.

"It's good to see you're recovering, Naruto-kun. Care to tell us what happened?"

"Sensei! Itachi-nii-san! Why are you guys here? How _did_ I get here?"

"Well, Shisui here happened to find you lying unconscious in your home after you failed to show at his house for the dinner he had invited you to." Pointed out Itachi. "I'll leave the details of last night's events for you two to work out."

"That's what I'd like to know as well, Naruto."

"Well…."

Ten minutes later, after a vivid retelling and a series of excited reenactments of his awesome moves, the Jinchuriki's story finally arrived at its conclusion.

"So when I realized my shoulder was really gonna be dragging down my mobility, I motioned for an earth clone outside the unidirectionally selective partially permeable barrier to substitute with myself, and since technically, it was an attempt to enter the barrier from the outside, it allowed the initiation of the jutsu, leading to its then uninterrupted completion. Not to mention – of course – that creating barriers that inhibit travelling by space-time jutsu is far beyond my level of knowledge at the moment."

' _Who could've known that young Naruto-kun would have such deep understanding of the inner workings of Fuuinjutsu? And to have progressed so much in so little an amount of time points towards quite the prodigious talent. He is an Uzumaki after all.'_ The young teen jounin mused in amazement as he continued to silently listen to the blond's passionate play by play of the night before.

Letting out the deep breath he had been maintaining as he told the story, Naruto continued, "After that, I pulverized that ANBU with that combination attack we practiced together."

"I must say I was mighty impressed with your work. I had to leave behind a Shadow Clone to deal with the cleanup," Shisui cut in, "Kudos to you, young disciple. I may make a fine Shinobi of you yet."

"Having said that though, why do you think Bear was there in the first place? Was it on the Hokage's orders? Or did he have his own vendetta?" Asked Naruto, steering the discussion in the direction he felt was most important.

"That Naruto, seems to be the crux of the matter," pointed out Itachi. "Bear had been assigned to watch over you for at least two months now. He reported only to the Hokage though, so none of us would know the exact details of his assignment. However, what I have been able to discover is that he had been summoned by Hokage-sama last night, though he was not meant to report until two nights later. That would imply either specific orders for the night, or a change in the overall mission parameters."

The blond had a contemplative look on his face, and then he asked, "But would the Hokage really order my death at the hands of his own ANBU?"

"Well, let's face it," Shisui interjected, "It is not uncommon for Kages to order their own Shinobi, even Jinchuriki - especially Jinchuriki to be assassinated if they feel they are losing control over them, or fear the Jinchuriki has developed into a flight risk. I've heard several such stories about both Suna and Kiri."

"However," he continued, "Sandaime-sama is known to strongly oppose such tactics and is famous for his soft and merciful approach towards others in general."

"But the evidence that seems to have unfolded over the past couple of months may suggest otherwise." Itachi added, after a short pause, "For me, the illusion of a grandfatherly figure has been dispelled, and the image of a powerful dictator that does what he believes is necessary to maintain the integrity of the village all the while keeping up appearances remains."

"Anyway, so how did you find me? Or rather, why did you find me? Was there omething you needed?"

"You were supposed to have dinner with me and Kiyomi-chan last night, remember?" He replied with a sweat drop.

"Huh, oh yeah… My bad," Elaborated Naruto, as he rubbed his head nervously.

"So the only reason you found me was due to chance?"

"And the only reason you survived, probably…" Itachi pointed out, "When you got here, you had lost over half the blood in your body. Your sensei here had to give you a transfusion… which brings us to the topic the both of us are here to discuss."

Itachi looked towards Shisui, who nodded for him to continue. "Naruto-kun, I need you to channel chakra into our eyes, then look at yourself in here," handing him a small mirror he picked from the side table.

The two Uchiha smirked at each other, counting down in their heads.

' _3.'_

Receiving the mirror from Itachi, the blond stared into it as he poured chakra into his cerulean blue orbs, until right before his eyes, they began to morph into something new, a pair of crimson eyes, each containing a single tomoe.

' _2.'_

Having studied under two Uchiha prodigies, he recognized those eyes anywhere.

' _1.'_

"NAANIIIII!" A flock of frightened pigeons burst out of a tree right outside the window, escaping the agonizingly screechy voice of a shocked Naruto.

"Sensei, somebody implanted me with their Sharingan!"

"Naruto, nobody - "

"Ahh, I don't want to turn into another scarecrow! I want my baby blues back!"

"Naruto, the eyes are - "

"Maybe they did it to frame me, so that the Uchiha clan would take revenge against me for killing one of their own…." The blockhead scratched his chin as he struck a contemplative pose, shocked out his sphere of reason.

"Calm down, Naruto." Shisui intoned, a final warning hidden behind his calm demeanor.

"Or…. Maybe it was done as a last ditch effort to save mankind, by some pure soul that recognized my awesome and realized that only through my efforts could humanity attain salvation!"

"Shut up, Naruto! This is a hospital." Accompanied by a sharp rap on the forehead woke the Jinchuriki up.

XXXXX

Somewhere far away, a young, dark-skinned boy with white spiky hair, sneezed, sending the lollipop he had been sucking moments earlier shooting into the face of a young red headed girl.

"Omoi, you disgusting jerk! Get back here!"

As he ran from what could be the cause of his eventual demise, he thought, _'Maybe somebody was thinking of me all as part of an elaborate plan to kill me by making me sneeze all over Karui, and then subjecting me to a long and painful death at her hands…'_

XXXXX

"Do I have your attention now?" A visibly annoyed young Uchiha asked.

"H-Hai…"

"I was saying that the Sharingan was awakened in your eyes last night. Itachi and I had come to expect something of the sort. It all began with the manifestation of your latent fire affinity. We could tell that despite your natural affinity being Wind, Fire somehow was adding itself to the mix in a way that could only mean it was genetic. Though the Uchiha are not the only clan in blood a highly dominant and powerful fire affinity is passed down, the others are nowhere near as famous, populous or likely, as their bloodlines are usually a fire based kekkei genkai, often pertaining to multiple elements."

Shisui, added, after letting all the information so far to soak in, "The second indication of your Uchiha heritage revealed itself when we began your evasion training, soon followed by your weapons practice. I could easily see that your reflexes were faster than most others your age, and your ocular perception was faster and more acute than even several Uchiha. It was then that I spoke with Itachi."

Not interrupted in the least by the hospitalized shinobi in training's shouts of 'I'm awesome!' and 'Beat that, teme!', Itachi picked up from where the other Uchiha had left off. "When Shisui brought the issue to my attention, I realized the very real possibility of you having Uchiha blood. I decided to have the matter investigated, since one of the ANBU operatives under my command is a medical specialist, I asked her to conduct a series of tests on some of your blood, while comparing it to my own. What she found, cemented my theory even before your Sharingan was awakened. Though there is no trace of Uchiha genes in from your mother's side, your father's half of your DNA holds quite a striking resemblance, though pure Uchiha DNA seems to have been diluted over the generations. It is no wonder Yondaime-sama was able to perfect the Hiraishin, if he had the heightened sharpness of an Uchiha's eyes, even without the Sharingan."

"But if my father had Uchiha blood as well, how come _he_ never unlocked the Sharingan. And why did I?"

"Well, I have a theory for that." Shisui said, "Rather, this is based off of a piece of research done about a decade ago, by Orochimaru, one of our leading scientific minds and most powerful ninja before he went rogue about eight years ago. Orochimaru discovered in secret that Uchiha genes favor a much greater number of nerve endings attached to the eyes and quicker relays, leading to higher sensitivity. Also, there is a specific antigen present exclusively in our bloodstream, that bonds with adrenaline to form a red pigmented substance. This substance, when pumped through the arteries supplying the optic nerve leak out and begin to coat the optic nerve. This is where the red color of the Sharingan originates from. The antigen however, is only truly formed in someone who has a developed chakra system, and its quantity depends upon the physical fitness of the person's body. That's why, even in stressful situations, civilian Uchiha don't awaken the Sharingan. This research however, was kept under wraps, and I only know because I was the ANBU one who discovered Orochimaru's notes stashed away in one of his abandoned labs we had discovered shortly after his escape. When Fugaku-sama found out, tensions grew pretty quick with the Hokage, but thankfully a settlement was reached before a coup might have taken place."

"Anyway, coming back to the topic at hand, I think neither you nor your father had enough Uchiha blood for sufficient quantities of this antigen to be produced. Thus, he never activated the bloodline, though what little he did have was enough to give him heightened visual perception, especially since he trained it so much, to be able to use the Hiraishin as efficiently as he did. The same would have probably happened to you, had you not received a blood transfusion from Shisui here, whose Sharingan has already matured to the highest level, and whose bloodstream is probably already saturated with the antigen in question. This lead to the aforementioned process to come to fruition, as, since you had just finished a large scale fight quite recently, and had been anticipating action for quite some time, there was still a substantial amount of residual adrenaline in your body to complete the procedure. And that's how you have your Sharingan."

"Uh, one more thing though. Before I lost consciousness last night, I registered another presence lingering for a long time just inside the boundary of my proximity alert ward. But the signature was completely alien to me, and I have no idea who it could be…"

"That does seem to be troubling," Itachi started off, "but let's see. Do tell us if you notice that chakra signature again. One thing you can be sure of though is this. Whoever it was, it wasn't an ally. Any academy student at such proximity would realize that there was a battle going on in that building, and if he or she didn't come to help, then it stands to reason that this person was in league with your assailant."

Continuing, he said, "Just keep a look out, and we'll deal with it, hopefully. In the meanwhile, we will not tell Hokage-sama anything. Nobody knows that you came here except for us. The hospital staff is all under a genjutsu. If it was truly him tht ordered the attack, he may slip up and give some indication that it was. You, however, better get your ass in gear and learn how to use that Sharingan. It wouldn't do for Shisui picking up your passed out body from the ruins of your apartment to become a regular practice, now would it."

"You're on, sensei!"

As the two looked at him with a look that said 'Oh, yeah?', he added.

"So does this mean you're gonna start training me for real, Shisui-sensei?"

"No. It means that from now on, your training with me is going to be Hell…"

 **And Cut**

 **So was this expected? No? There was a lot of foreshadowing revolving around his Uchiha blood. Wonder who got it…**

 **Anyway, do you think the explanation was plausible and consistent with everything we know as fact concerning the Narutoverse? If not, do tell me. Also, if any of you guys (probably girls) are doing medicine, or know about trait inheritance and stuff, whether the stuff I came up with is actually possible or not… (And not something like, hey, chakra isn't real)**

 **And yes, Naruto did tell Itachi and Shisui about his heritage. Just that though, not about his parents' house or library or anything of that sort.**

 **Also, I'm expecting a time skip in the next chapter.**

 **Also, I'm sorry for the short chapter. Just that I couldn't get the chappie up last week, and I thought I'd post it by Friday (today), but I pulled a muscle yesterday, so I could barely move my arm, let alone type long hours with it. So anyway, things happen (if you're into sports, you can relate).**

 **Also, I'm really in need of a beta right about now. The timeline is getting messed up, ideas jumbled, mistakes (both logical and syntactical) afoot, and explanations for the conspiracies I've entangled this story in need to be straightened out. Unless I go into hiatus and sort things out, I need a beta. Any volunteers?**

 **Same message as last time. Funnily enough, I got a request from a guest to be my beta…. So I thank you for your support man, but I'm not good enough of a hacker to discover your identity when you review as a guest to tell me you want to be my beta.**

 **Also, for some reason, the traffic stats for all my stories have frozen since August 22** **nd** **, and just came back on like four days ago. I don't know if that's only happened to me, or to others as well. Since I'm pretty much a noob as a fanfiction author, I have no idea why this happened. Could somebody elaborate?**

 **Thanks.**

 **I'm out.**


	9. Chapter 9: Interlude

**Vengeful Sage**

Chapter 9: Interlude

 **Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to 'moto…**

 _ **Recap:**_

" _So does this mean you're gonna start training me for real, Shisui-sensei?"_

" _No. It means that from now on, your training with me is going to be Hell…"_

XXX

An old man stood in a light filled clearing, alert for any semblance of sound. For an entire day, he had had this ominous feeling that he was being followed. A rustling in the bushes, the occasional footstep, an eerie feeling of someone's eyes boring into the back of his neck. But despite his perpetual vigilance and heightened paranoia, his rational mind registered no concrete evidence to lend any validity to his fears. He trudged on, flanked by a pair of his most loyal samurai guards, as they came upon a sudden cliff.

The old man and his entourage began to move along the ledge, looking for a way across. In under ten minutes, a high hanging rope bridge appeared before the advancing procession, connecting this side of the cliff to the opposite end, running across the entire width of the massive and bottomless ravine.

At the foot of the bridge, was a small cabin, fitted on each side with a window. Poking her head out of one of these windows was a figure in blue, displaying quite a rugged appearance. She seemed to be your run of the mill low born girl, who barely scraped together enough food to eat. Seeing the approaching party, she stepped out of the structure, holding out a hand to stop them.

"Sir, 10 ryo for crossing the bridge," her voice, one of desperation.

One of the samurai stepped forward, hand resting vigilantly on the hilt of his sword, a threatening pose just hiding behind the corner, "Don't you know who you're speaking to, you insolent girl! Get out of the way!" With that, he backhanded the girl out of the way. She stumbled backwards in recoil, but immediately stabled herself. Her gaze was set high, red eyes staring straight into the old man's own.

"You dare look at Tatsuhiko-denka in the eyes like this!" A samurai broke out, defending his prince's honor.

The old man – now revealed to be of the royal family – though, motioned for the samurai to step back. Seeing the defiant look in the young girl's eyes, he decided he would humor her. Dropping a hand into his pocket, he brought it out, clutching a handful of gold coins, which he scattered onto the bridge.

The girl's eyes lit up, seeing the dozens of coins spilling forth onto the rope bridge. Without looking back at the scurrying girl, hurrying to collect as many coins as possible before they rolled off into the ravine below, the princely procession continued on. Having gone only about twenty paces ahead, roughly reaching the center of the bridge, before the royal figure suddenly clutched his chest in pain, stumbling sideways as his body spasmed in agony, a look of fear sitting on his face. The guards in front of and behind him each dove towards him, but it was too late. He was gone.

Down he went, dropping like a stone, first striking one outcropping of stone, then bouncing off of another as what was now inevitably a royal corpse faded into oblivion.

"You fools! What have you done?" The head of the royal guard stomped into their midst as the samurai and soldiers all scrambled about in disarray. They had failed. Two hundred of the crown prince's most loyal guards, and they couldn't even save him from toppling over the bridge into the hungry abyss below. Now all that was left was to collect His Highness' body, or whatever remained of it.

As the men went marching past, the guards closest to their objective handcuffed and placed under probation for negligence, a puff of smoke revealed a masked figure standing within the confines of the small cabin by the foot of the bridge. He was blonde, of average height. Beside him was another masked young preteen, with jet black hair. He wore on his back, a tanto, positioned perfectly for a quick and efficient draw. His eyes were shallow pools, showing absolutely zero emotions.

"Cold and efficient as always, senpai." The figure remarked offhandedly, "When it comes to covering up a ruthless assassination as nothing more than an innocent accident, there aren't many that could match you."

"Thank you, Sai-kohai." The bond figure replied, momentarily going back to his age old habit of rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Anyway, let's get out of here. We still need to cash in that bounty. Hopefully, we can report in by tonight."

"As you wish, Yellow - senpai." Racing through a set of brush strokes on a half opened scroll, Sai slammed his hand down onto it, summoning a large poof of smoke as an ink bird the size of a car flapped its way out of the residue. In a moment, they were off.

XXX

"Report, Agent Yellow!" A stern looking old man stated robotically, like he had been saying the very same thing for years.

The man was a cripple, or at least he appeared to be. Bandages covered the right half of his face, all the way up to and past his eyes. Crisscrossed scars marked his chin, with lines of age running down his face. His right arm lay wrapped up in bandages. The look of a weak old man was completed by the cane that lay by his desk.

"The mission was a success, Danzo-sama. The crown prince that was to succeed his father, the Daimyo of the Land of Water, is dead. And none of his guards suspected a thing. He fell off of a hundred meter high bridge, with nothing but sharp rocks and the outdoor equivalent of stalagmites to spear him through at the bottom."

"Excellent! And what became of Hikaru?"

"We chased him down. We followed him to his base, where I trapped him in a genjutsu, while Sai incarcerated him. After a thorough interrogation and search of his hideout, we found the blueprints to Konoha's security layout, which I have here. He was also in possession of the Hero's water he had stolen, which we sealed away. His body was handed over to Takigakure for the bounty."

"I assume you would have taken a sample of his sperm… for our more recent research project."

"Of course, Miu-chan extracted as much as was possible, then we burned the rest of his genitals before handing over his body as ordered."

"You may leave us, Sai, Miu."

As the two other members of his team walked out the door, the young blond looked around. It had been over a year and a half since he had first set foot in this room. It hadn't changed one bit. The desk before which Danzo-sama sat remained where they forever were. The same could be said of the lines of shelves lining the walls. Besides the weekly change of security seals, and the possible placement and removal of material from them, they stood tall as ever.

 **Flashback:**

 _Naruto strode out of the Uchiha compound as he set out for his apartment after a full day of training with his master. After having gone out far enough to be obscured from any chance guards, or rounds by the military police squads, he recognized a presence behind him. The chakra signature, which he had trained in differentiating, was one he recognized from the night he was attacked two days ago, the night he first activated his Sharingan._

 _His paranoia drove him to turning around on the go, turning his head from side to side. Looking around he saw no one, until he heard the sound of a cane tapping on the stone path behind him. The old man had seemed to have materialized out of thin air, a seemingly crippled old man, that is. The man he now turned around to face was covered in bandages engulfing about half his body, yet his posture as well as his presence seemed to exude an element of power._

 _Naruto recognized him as one of the elders that could be seen meeting with the Sandaime, and if he remembered correctly, one of Iruka – sensei's history lessons had covered him and his contributions to the leaf, in addition to his current role as an advisor to the Hokage._

" _I've long wished to meet you, young man." He finally broke the silence that had ensued while the blond eyed him up._

" _You're Danzo-san, right? One of Hokage-sama's advisors?" He spoke in a tone laced with respect._

" _You would be correct. I am indeed Danzo, and I come to you with a proposition."_

" _A proposition? What sort of proposition? And who is that you have hiding in the trees up there?"_

' _Splendid. The boy can sense Rat from over here at such a young age, even though he isn't suppressing his chakra. It seems that the reports about Shisui putting extra hours into this kid hold some merit to them.'_

" _Ah, that's just my body guard. You may come out now, Rat." A young adult emerged from the foliage, an animal mask on his face._

" _An ANBU guard?" The boy replied skeptically._

" _Not precisely." The old man allowed a smile to grace his features. The conversation was going exactly where he wanted it to, without him even needing to prompt it in the right direction. "He is part of my own branch of black ops that serve Konoha from the darkness. We do what must be done to ensure the continued existence and prosperity of the village, things that most people have neither the power nor the stomach to do. That brings me to why I am here, wishing to speak to you in particular. I want to offer you a place in this organization."_

 _Naruto wasn't an idealist. He knew what kind of dirty underhanded dealings and backstabbing took place between nations, and that the sort of image that Konoha as a whole and the Hokage in particular had constructed for themselves was nothing but an illusion aimed at the naïve masses. So he had no problems with doing whatever it took to preserve what you want to preserve._

" _What's in it for me?"_

" _I know about your heritage. I know about your Sharingan. I know that deep down, you want to have some sort of connection with your parents, you want to fight for the village they died for. I also know that relationships between yourself and the Hokage have become strained. The Hokage's grandfather – like façade has shattered, and left you feeling confused about yourself, the village, the Hokage and what you want to do about it. I offer you a place where no one will question you. A place where your heroic acts in defense of the village will be appreciated. A place where your instruction in the shinobi arts will not be purposefully hampered. I know that you've discovered your elemental nature to be wind, and you have no one to learn it from. I offer you lessons on taming your wind affinity, being a practitioner of it myself…"_

 _The man had done his homework, it seemed. Despite the incriminating evidence all alluding to the fact that Danzo – now Danzo-sama – had agents spying on him for quite a lot of the recent past, Naruto found himself nodding along. The offer seemed to be everything he could ask for, and he had been baited to success. Hook, line and sinker._

 **Flashback end:**

"How fares your training, Naruto?"

This had become very much a monthly question. And his answer had gained a consistent format.

"My Sharingan training is going well. Shisui-sensei has me busy dodging an unimaginable number of kunai and shuriken, and I've also advanced well into predictive countering. I've mastered most of the Interceptor Fist style, and am regularly practicing with him in Taijutsu. As you asked, I've had several sessions with Itachi-san concerning ocular genjutsu, and I must say, his expertise in the field is phenomenal. I've merely just scratched the surface. His brand of genjutsu is so insanely exhausting. I don't think I managed to throw off a single one of them without intervention from Shisui-sensei."

Hearing this, his superior's face grew somber, as if he was about to relay some serious piece of news. "About your sensei - " The old man broke off.

The blond broke out of his jovial tone as he saw what was most obviously a solemn conversation.

"I have an assignment for you, Naruto." Danzo declared calmly.

 **And Cut**

 **Sorry guys. I really wanted to put up a chapter by today, but I couldn't, so here is my saving grace for now. It is very short, I know, and I'm apologizing for that. The next chapter will be where the story enters into canon. This is merely a peace offering, showing where our favorite hero has been in the time leading up to the graduation from the academy. And hopefully, you Dark Naruto loving readers won't be put off by the direction Naruto has gone this chapter. Everything is done for a reason.**

 **Guys (and girls), I need your suggestions with respect to the pairing. What would you like it to be? I have some things in mind, but nothing definitive. You're welcome to tell me what you want to see. I'd love to hear it.**

 **Naruto/ Single**

 **Naru Harem?**

 **Who would you prefer?**

 **Mei, Karin, Temari, Guren, Tsunade? Someone else? Kiyomi?**

 **I await your suggestions.**

 **Thanks.**

 **I'm out.**


	10. Chapter 10: Too Slow

**Vengeful Sage**

Chapter 10: Too Slow

 **I'm very sorry guys, I was changing the name of the chapter, and it seems I accidentally deleted it. I'm putting it back up, having renamed it from Rite of Passage to Too Slow. If you've read it, no need to reread it. Everything is the same as it was. Shadow mage will probably be updated today though. Do tell me if you think the chapter name should remain as it is, or if I should change it back.**

 **Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto… Ramen belongs to Naruto… This disclaimer belongs to somebody else. A cookie to whoever can guess who I copied it from?**

 **Also, I'm enjoying the good feedback, thanks guys.**

 **Everybody wants harem… Who would have guessed?**

 **Anyway, so one person thinks Danzo should be killed, while the other thinks Shisui should be killed… What should I do? I wonder…. Read this chapter and find out…**

 **(I'm pretty much a failure at being corny as hell…)**

 **On with the story:**

 _ **Recap:**_

 _Hearing this, his superior's face grew somber, as if he was about to relay some serious piece of news. "About your sensei - " The old man broke off._

 _The blond broke out of his jovial tone as he saw what was most obviously a solemn conversation._

" _I have an assignment for you, Naruto." Danzo declared calmly._

XXX

His heart thumped heavily as he raced across the village, desperately pleading whatever powers were out there that he wasn't too late. Naruto Uzumaki poured as much chakra as he could into his legs as he leapt from rooftop to rooftop, crossing over several districts, passing by a dozen training grounds, and traversing the length of the village in the most tense five minutes of his life as he rushed to save his mentor.

Ten minutes ago, when his superior at Root had dismissed his teammates and asked that he remained behind, he had been expecting nothing out of the ordinary. After all, he was special. He knew that, and he wasn't shy of admitting it. Container of the Kyuubi, son of the Yondaime Hokage, secret bearer of the Sharingan, last Uzumaki of Konoha, yeah, he was special. It was completely usual for Danzo to ask for him to remain behind, either because he had taken a direct interest in his training himself, or because he wanted to discuss sensitive information that couldn't be disclosed before the others.

After all, no one, and absolutely no one but Danzo and Shisui knew of his involvement with Root. To the other operatives working under the man, Naruto was just another child he had picked up and seen potential in. Naruto was merely Agent Yellow, and in the near future, it appeared it would stay that way.

However, after their regular game of twenty questions about everything to do with his training, the conversation shifted over to something far more serious. Danzo had decreed that Uchiha Shisui had begun to show resentment towards the village, and not just against the Hokage or his policies either. Not that Naruto would believe it though. Shisui loved the village of his birth, and loved the people that inhabited it. As far as he could infer, Danzo himself had approached the man to make him work under him to help the village since he disagreed with how the Hokage was running things, and that hadn't gone as smoothly as one could have hoped. More than likely, this was no more than that rite of passage that Root ANBU had to undergo. Danzo had merely waited until he found the person whose death would be the most useful to himself.

Nothing was certain though, but that seemed to be most probable. Anyhow, Shisui would be returning from a solo mission he had undertaken anytime now, and the decision had been made to eliminate him. A squad of some of Root's most experienced and talented ANBU had already taken up positions to ambush him. Everything had been set up so that there was no avenue of escape.

His teacher of two years was possibly the only person he had truly grown to respect in this godforsaken village. The way he was kind to people, whether he knew them or not, how he would make sure not to cause pain to any living thing, let alone another human being, how he had treated him, even though everyone else in the village had given him nothing but scorn. He had trained him and bonded with Naruto like one would with family. He pretty much _was_ family.

This type of bond, the Jinchuriki had formed with no one else. Not the Hokage, who in his infinite wisdom, had left the blond to fend for himself, all the while not so subtlely encouraging him to earn the villagers' respect, like he himself had managed all those years ago. And it had worked too, for a short while. Naruto Uzumaki had been completely indoctrinated, set upon the path of becoming Hokage and protecting the village, until he saw the fruitlessness of his endeavors. Good thing he didn't continue to persist along that line. Ever since he made up his mind though, his relationship with the Sandaime degenerated into nothing more or less than cordial.

His relationship with Danzo was a whole different sort though. From the very get go, Naruto had known what to expect. There was no emotional meandering involved nor required. It would be a strictly professional relationship; he would perform a number of missions for the old man, and in return, he would receive one on one training from the man himself as well as access to his sizeable Jutsu archives. Purely give or take. It was here that Naruto felt most comfortable. A place where he needed only one mask, the mask of a Shinobi, one he knew how to don well.

From the very beginning, Naruto had known that Danzo would not be a friend. Neither did he want him as an enemy though. Danzo's true usefulness to those who either worked with him or for him was that of a most convenient business partner. His case wasn't much different.

Aside from Danzo, the Hokage, Shisui, Itachi, Sasuke, Kiyomi, and the Ichirakus, there weren't many people with whom he had any worthwhile relationship. Hatake Kakashi would make the occasional visit though, asking about his training and offering pointers himself. And then of course, there was that nice weapons shop owner who he had set up his first contract with.

A lifetime of restockable supply of kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, ninja clothing, armor, wire, swords, chakra metal, you name it; as long as he kept getting his monthly five thousand explosive notes, and five hundred sealing scrolls. Raw material provided by the store of course. In the blond's own humble opinion though, he himself had gotten the better end of the deal. Little did the poor man know that when Naruto Uzumaki got up to abusing the Shadow Clone Jutsu – a Jutsu which Shisui-sensei had taught him soon after realizing how massive his chakra reserves were bound to be one day, heck how massive they already were – for him creating the specified number of notes was a walk in the park.

Coming back to the present, however, Naruto was almost at the edge of the village, nearing the forest where the ambush was to take place. From the sounds of it though, it seemed that the trap had already been sprung.

He put on a final burst of speed as he entered the final leg of his urgent dash. He had been tasked with smiting the final blow to his master, and retrieving his eyes, ' _lest they fall into the wrong hands'._

' _And those wouldn't be your hands, by any chance, would they?',_ he thought.

Naruto was confused. He was not ready in any situation to cut off his bonds with his master and kill him, well, not for Danzo at least. Nor was he deluded enough to believe Danzo would spare him once he caught any whiff of betrayal from one of his subordinates. For now though, he needed to get there, fast, and assess the situation. It may be that he could pass the situation off as an impossible mission and salvage whatever he could from the situation.

Sharingan blaring, he moved into position behind a tree, such that he could see what was going on inside the clearing. It wasn't pretty.

The trees around seemed to have taken the brunt of a fight that had been going on for quite some time. Some were burning, while others were knocked over. Others yet, held large gouges on their hefty trunks, a testament to the ferocity of the battle. In the clearing, two ANBU lay dead, while sounds of clashing weapons and chakra flares erupted from the foliage about fifty feet away.

Naruto silently approached the two, clad in his ANBU gear, and checked them each for a pulse. Seeing one of them still alive, just barely holding on to dear life, he strangled his neck, and then moved on to where the battle still ensued.

Shisui was putting up one hell of a fight. Even he hadn't expected two operatives to actually die on the mission, especially such highly efficient ANBU when they had the drop on him, but then again, this was Uchiha Shisui he was talking about. Despite having lines of blood running down his face, from a wound in his forehead where his opponent's sword must have penetrated, he was still standing, waving his own tanto about. One side of his face was blackened, seemingly from a Raiton Jutsu, and parts of his clothing were tied over his shoulder, as a bandage of sorts.

(Twenty Minutes Ago)

Shisui was running back to Konoha at a respectable speed, not very fast – for a ninja that is – but still fast enough to be far beyond the reach of any civilian. He wanted to be home by tonight and have a nice soak, and maybe spend some time with his adorable little sister and her not so secret crush in the form of his child prodigy of a student, Naruto Uzumaki.

His student had been making great strides in improving his skills ever since he had accepted to take him on as his apprentice. Working on his Taijutsu daily, he could now comfortably say that there was barely a chunin out there that could match him in a test of physical prowess.

When it came to Ninjutsu, well, a few jounin couldn't even keep up. With Naruto's drive, as well as his monstrous chakra capacity, not to mention his recovery rate, both from exhaustion as well as injuries, and more recently, his use of Shadow clones, he managed to cut down the standard jutsu learning time several times. Of course, ever since he had awakened his Sharingan, that learning curve had only grown steeper. He could now pick up techniques after having seen them only once, and after some time practicing them, could quite truthfully claim he had mastered them.

Having seen a clearing before him, he thought he would take a short five minute break there before continuing on with the journey. When he arrived though, he noticed something off about the place. It was too quiet. No rustling in the bushes, no animals hooting or scurrying about. It was dead quiet. He got on his guard. He stood there for several seconds, but there was nothing. Dismissing it as no more than a mere figment of his imagination, Shisui was about to sit down, before he decided to check once more by activating his Sharingan.

The Sharingan afforded the ninja a whole new sense of perception, a whole new world of feeling as he saw the trees towering above him, laced in chakra as they too hummed in delight, completely in tune with nature… wait a minute. That wasn't the same color or density as the chakra of plant life.

"Kai!" Hurriedly whispering the words as his dojutsu shattered the expertly woven illusion into pieces, Shisui was just in time to duck and dodge sideways as a massive current of heavenly proportions zapped past his face. He wasn't nearly fast enough though, as the powerful bolt of electrical discharge glanced off of the left side of his face, leaving him at the hands of agonizingly drawn out torture as each cell on one half of his face and underneath it screamed out in rebellion, howling in torment.

Biting back a curse as stars blinked in and out before his vision, it was all he could do to lean back to avoid an oncoming fireball jutsu, and spin around and kick out at the mysterious assailant that appeared behind him. The masked man was launched back, hitting his head on a low hanging branch, his neck snapping forward with a violent jerk.

Shisui drew his tanto, and two seconds later, had plunged it deep within the brains of a now very dead and crimson dyed corpse. In the meanwhile, his two masked accomplices had not idle. A violent gust of wind blew, accompanied by fire which was stoked and kindled by the blowing winds, evolving into a blazing inferno that ate up all that was in its path.

Despite having singed part of his arms and burnt off the lower half of his sleeves as he blocked off the brunt of the attack, all the while jumping backwards, Shisui had finally managed to gain enough time to make stock of the situation. Three enemies so far. One dead. Leaving two enemies that he knew for sure were lying in wait, while there remained the possibility of a fourth squad member biding his time, waiting for the most opportune time to strike.

Shisui engaged the one who seemed to be the leader in a battle of kenjutsu, while searching the field for the other man. He couldn't shift his focus off of his current opponent for long though, not more than a couple seconds, else he would be disarmed and subdued. Despite his own considerable skill, his enemy was no pushover either.

While the two duked it out with a slash here, a parry there, a stab here, a dodge there, a counter strike there, and another parry there, he realized that he was at a disadvantage. The masked ANBU – who he could recognize as wearing the uniform of Root – had managed to keep him occupied in a battle of kenjutsu, leaving him unable to make hand seals for jutsu, while his other partner seemed to be lying in wait, ready to strike.

Deciding that dealing with the possible interloper was the more imminent need, he disengaged from the Root captain and retreated into the bushes, whereby his enemy too disappeared. Concentrating his Sharingan on to the bushes around him, he could see two chakra sources surrounding him. One, closer than even he had first assumed.

' _Damn! These ANBU sure are stealthy!'_

A quick build up of chakra later and Shisui stepped out from behind the foliage, unleashing a vacuum sphere jutsu on the unsuspecting target behind the bush. Or so it appeared.

"Hah! You've left yourself wide open!" And with that, he shot out of the bush, another bolt of lightning he had seemingly been building up erupting from his hands, impacting Shisui point blanc. A look of pain crossed his features, before a smirk set in, a cloud of smoke and popping sound the only warning the man got before he too was skewered through the lungs with Shisui's tanto.

A water bullet headed in his direction, the Uchiha had no time to confirm his kill as he put forward a hasty retreat, disappearing back into the forest. Normally, he would have tried to reason or talk his way out of such a situation, but from the very beginning, he had known that they were Root ANBU. They neither talked nor compromised. They merely completed the mission, or died trying. And despite his vehement distaste for Danzo and his methods, he had to admit, they were pretty damn effective.

(Back to the present):

Shisui dodged to the left as the squad captain attacked once more, a downward vertical slash of his katana, followed by a diagonal slash as he spun around, giving no time to recover. Shisui brought his tanto in front of him in a guard, pushing back against his opponent to create room for himself. His Sharingan had allowed him to continue evading the ANBU's strikes for so long, otherwise his reflexes had dulled several long minutes ago, especially since he was exhausted after the solo A - rank bounty he had just subdued an hour earlier, followed by his long run home. His chakra had yet to recharge back up to favorable levels when he was suddenly set upon by a team of highly skilled combatants, one of who had been an Aburame, whose bugs had juiced him for all he was worth until he could bring an end to him.

This final ANBU, however, seemed to be quite well-versed in terms countering the Uchiha fighting style. He absolutely refused to look him in the eye, minimally telegraphed his movements, and looked to overcome his opponent with pure speed and power. Well, he wasn't too successful on that front. He was known as Shisui of the Shunshin for reason. But even then, his chakra reserves had gone dangerously low, and he couldn't afford to be so prodigal with his use of his signature technique any longer. He would have to make do with the basics.

His opponent, on the other hand, did not have the same restriction. He had not been flinging Jutsu left and right, and so, was in relatively better condition. There was also the chance that a fourth member of their squad might be lurking somewhere in the shadows, since most squads tended to consist of four, not three members.

It was here that Naruto arrived at the scene, jumping into the clearing the combatants had selected for themselves. He turned towards the ANBU, nodding once, then preparing for battle. He would wait for his chance, then strike at him when he least expected it.

Shisui had been fighting for quite some time now, and he was tired. He was also pretty sure that this had gone on long enough to attract attention from Konoha. Someone would be coming to check out what was going on. On the reverse side, it could just as easily be an enemy come see what was taking so long. So the moment he spotted an ANBU masked figure jumping out of the tree line, and nodding to the other ANBU, he set into motion.

Despite all his misgivings, Shisui knew he couldn't play it safe. He would have to risk it all in a last ditch effort to kill the ANBU if he himself wished to survive. Completing the hand seals in a split second, he summoned a crow the size of a human being, and then continued on going through hand seals, indicating to his partner while on the run.

Cutting an abrupt end to his opponent's momentary reprieve, he came to a stop on the tiger seal, blowing out a _Grand Fireball Jutsu_ flying straight in the direction of his would be assassin. Not losing a step, Shisui flung himself to the right of where his enemy stood, already anticipating where he would retreat as his crow partner soared in from the left. He wasn't mistaken. With the ANBU exactly where he wanted him, he struck out with a stab to his heart. However, the speed at which the two were moving, coupled with a last minute jerk by the ANBU squad captain meant that he did not hit his mark, instead impaling his sword into his shoulder. He groaned loudly, but he wasn't finished yet.

As a reflex, the injured enemy lashed out, penetrating with his katana, straight through his gastro abdominal cavity. His own tanto fixed firmly in the man's shoulder, Shisui could do nothing but watch as the sword slipped into him, eliciting a cry of pain from the Uchiha.

Louder still, was the cry of anguish that erupted from nearby as a yellow blur shot across the clearing, lopping off the ANBU captain's head in his moment of relief. Immediately, he was at his master's side, having done away with his mask, a panic stricken look on his face as he pulled out the sword that gripped the inside of Shisui's stomach.

"Sensei! Hold on, I'll get you to the hospital."

Evidently not having expected the new arrival to have been his student, he looked up in shock.

"It's me sensei. Naruto."

"Naruto…? What are you doing here?"

"Danzo wants you killed. I rushed here as quickly as I could. Just relax. I'll get you to the Uchiha compound. It's the closest from here. Surely, Akeno-san will be able to fix everything."

"Very well then."

Picking up his master's body with extreme care and gentleness, Naruto began his run back towards Konoha.

As he moved, the blond continued to narrate what had happened and how he had come to be at the forest.

"Sensei?"

"Yes?"

"Could I ask you something?"

"Of course…"

"Why did Danzo claim that you were becoming disloyal and a threat to the village?"

"I don't know. Maybe because I spoke up against the Hokage and the elders when they tried to pretend that you were being treated like a princess and everything was fine and innocent in their perfect little Konoha!"

"You really did that?"

"Well, anyway. Knowing Danzo, it's probably because he knows about my Sharingan abilities, especially Kotoamatsukami; a technique that could look deep into a person's desires, and subtlely strengthen one so greatly that he believes in it absolutely, all the while under the assumption that he had arrived at the conclusion after lots of pondering and contemplation. Inception in its most pristine form. A sort of mind control if you will. He has probably tasked you with retrieving my eyes, has he not?"

A moment of hesitation, then with a sigh, he replied, "Yes, sensei. What should I do?"

But it seemed that Shisui was no longer paying attention to what he was saying. He coughed, then a deep breath then he sighed.

"Let me down, Naruto."

"We're halfway there, sensei. Just hang on for ten more minutes."

"No, I'm afraid I will not survive the night. My wounds are fatal, and my body will not hold out till you arrive at the village. Even now, my stomach acids continue to empty out in to my chest cavity, burning a hole right through my body. It won't be long before even the mobility and speech I possess at this moment deserts me. Let me down now, so that I may give you my final instructions as a sensei."

Naruto didn't want to comply. He wanted to keep running, and hope that he would reach the Uchiha clan district on time. But seldom did just wishing for something ever make it come true. If his sensei, who was optimistic at the worst times, was saying he wouldn't survive, then he very likely wouldn't survive.

Stopping at the trunk of an inconspicuous tree, he laid his sensei down.

"Complete your mission. These eyes are of no more use to me. Make sure to use them to ensure your continued existence as a Root operative until you graduate."

"B-But - "

"Don't interrupt me. Bring out your medical instruments and kit. Also, a significant chakra signature approaches. Don your mask once more," and then he continued to whisper his final instructions into his ear.

A heavy feeling descended onto his heart, as the blond obeyed without question. He steadied his shaking hands as he prepared to make the fine incisions he would need to make to remove the eye unimpeded, and with minimal damage. He had practiced this weeks ago with Danzo for emergency situations, where he may need to apply first aid or administer an eye transplant. It was only now that he realized why this particular surgery had been chosen for him to learn.

' _That bastard had this planned for weeks!'_

"If only I had been faster, if I hadn't hesitated…", he murmured.

As he stored the Sharingan eye in a jar he then sealed away into a scroll, he heard rustling in the bushes, and then a pair of Sharingan eyes stepped out from behind the tree. "Who is there?"

When he saw the figure, he knew Itachi would slaughter him before he even had time to reveal his identity. It was then that Naruto Uzumaki bolted.

 **And Cut**

 **I'm really sorry for delaying this update for so long (it wasn't really that long was it?). I had my mid semester exams, which just finished on Thursday, and I was pretty busy before that. Anyway, just because I'm apologizing doesn't mean I won't be late again, just saying that I know how people who wait for a story feel. Besides, the next update will probably be for my Harry Potter story,** _ **Shadow Mage**_ **, so if you haven't checked that out, you may as well do that in the meanwhile.**

 **This story has now reached forty thousand words. I'm pretty proud of myself right now, cuz I never thought I would manage to actually write this much. It's all because of your support, people, and I really appreciate it. About 230 people are following this story, and that's what makes me just have to continue on with it. I wish people reviewed just as much too, though.**

 **Also, I promise, next time will be graduation. I've held it back long enough. Forty thousand words means I'm well into the story, and so, no more of this childhood stuff all you lovely reviewers are fed up with.**

 **This chapter was important as a final plunge into darkness, as the only ones he truly had bonds with in the village slowly pass away, each at the hands of the very village that had birthed him, then given him nothing but misery.**

 **And I realize now how horrible I am at writing action scenes, especially long drawn out ones. Is there anybody out there who thinks he / she can help? Please do tell. Also, please point out any typos I'm sure I have not noticed because of how hurried I was when writing this. I'll try to fix them as soon as possible.**

 **Anyway, like I said last chapter, I need your suggestions with respect to the pairing. What would you like it to be? I have some things in mind, but nothing definitive. You're welcome to tell me what you want to see. I'd love to hear it.**

 **So far, there seems to be a general demand for Naru Harem….**

 **But it's still up there for those who would like to put in their view.**

 **Naruto/ Single**

 **Naru Harem?**

 **Who would you prefer?**

 **Mei, Karin, Temari, Guren, Tsunade? Someone else? Kiyomi?**

 **I await your suggestions.**

 **And of course, a cookie to whoever guesses who I plagiarized the disclaimer from.**

 **Thanks.**

 **I'm out.**


	11. Chapter 11: More Than He'd Asked For

**Vengeful Sage**

Chapter 11: More Than He'd Asked For…

 **Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto…**

 **I'm enjoying the good feedback, thanks guys. Keep it up.**

A young blond boy sat with his head resting on the backs of his interlocked fingers, lost in thought. So much had happened in so little a while, it felt almost surreal. Just a month ago, everything had been normal – or as normal as things could have been, given how the village continued to ostracize him for something far beyond his control, but of course, he had learned to ignore them long ago. They were beneath him. And he was above giving a damn.

He continued to learn under the tutelage of his mentor, and teacher, and dare he say it, the person he could say came closest to being considered his friend, and then, it was all wiped out in a heartbeat. Danzo, the commander of Root, the Black Ops organization he had joined in order to gain experience in the practical world and hone his skills had sent him to retrieve the eyes of his master, the fabled eyes of Uchiha Shisui, eyes that had grown legendary for their ability to cast Kotoamatsukami, one of the most powerful genjutsu of all time. He himself had merely heard of its capabilities, through tales that his master had regaled him with.

He had poured all his power into arriving on time, but alas, he was too late. He could do nothing but watch on as Shisui lay dying, and as his teacher breathed his last, comply with his last wishes and desecrate his eyes. He had escaped when he realized Itachi had arrived on the scene, and left the elder Uchiha to take care of the body. He was cowardly, immensely so, but he had done it. He had handed over those legendary eyes to his commanding officer. He had proven his loyalty to Root, above all else. In the eyes of Danzo, he had finally broken all bonds of fellowship, and breezed through his rite of passage. He was now a full member of the Black Ops, but his heart wasn't in it.

After that, it was one piece of bad news after the other. Soon, the Uchiha had all retreated into their compound, barring him and anyone else from entering, and the next morning, the adults were all found dead, with all evidence pointing towards his other friend, Itachi as the culprit. He was confused. He didn't understand why Itachi would have, or even could have done this. Sasuke was left as nothing but a shell of his former self for days on end.

By the time he recovered, he had become obsessed with revenge, spending day in and day out training, in preparation for the day he would finally unleash his sorrow upon the brother that had shattered his Utopia and slain his parents, leaving only some of the Uchiha children alive, with him being one of the oldest.

Without any adult guardians to look over them, they had become easy pickings for anyone who wanted to get their hands on some Uchiha blood. In the first day alone, there had been no less than two dozen kidnapping attempts, nearly half of which were successful. He personally knew of at least _four_ young Uchiha children that had been picked up by Root, who, had things been any different, _he_ would have had to train.

However, today was the graduation exam, and in about a week, he would be assigned to his Genin team. Good thing too… He couldn't bear to work any longer with Danzo. The man was atrocious, killing loyal men just to gain more power. Well, he may have done the same, had the situations been reversed, but then who gave him, and Sarutobi, and every other freakin' group in Konoha the moral high ground to claim that they worked for the betterment of the village, or to establish peace among the lands.

No, they all merely endeavored to consolidate their power base is all. And then, they called it the greater good. At least the other villages weren't so hypocritical about it.

It was only when the total Uchiha population of the village had dropped into the single digits that the Hokage woke up from his neglectful stupor, and arranged for anyone not yet a ninja to be adopted by a shinobi family / clan, while the Genin were forbidden from living alone. Sasuke and Kiyomi, along with two other genin were all the ninja that were left of the once mighty Uchiha clan. And Itachi, of course, but his very name had become taboo. And him, but then, the number of people who knew _that_ could be counted on one hand.

Naruto was broken out of his thoughts when the door slammed open, as two of the greatest annoyances known to man barged into the doorway simultaneously, each one trying to push the other out of the way as she placed her foot into the classroom. In the end, it was Sakura that came out victorious, and the second round of pink versus blond electro-static glaring commenced.

Naruto would have ignored the duo had they not been racing over to where he sat the very next second, foregoing their earlier rivalry to put up a united front in the face of the daunting figure of their whiskered classmate who had usurped their rightful place beside their beloved. Despicable.

The very sight of such pathetic individuals whose days were squandered vying for the attention of a boy who had made it plain for all to see that he wasn't interested occupying the position of top kunoichi of the year disgusted him. It just went on to show how truly worthless this place had become. Not that he cared of course.

On the seat beside him sat his long time friend and training partner, who he had won over the day he had first defeated him in a spar at his clan compound. Sasuke Uchiha, hailed as a genius, one of the last known wielders of the Sharingan in Konoha, tied for top in everything with the blond, was brooding. Over the past weeks, his mood had grown ever worse, with Naruto as the only one who could ever cause him to cheer up, even then, not for long. Only while training did he truly feel free, for he knew that with each moment he spent in the training field, he was drawing ever closer to his ambition. To finally killing 'that man'.

Before the two female menaces could get their clamor going once more, the entire class immediately froze as a giant head - bloated way out of proportion – suddenly filled the space between the teacher's desk and the ceiling, a shrill exasperated shout emanating from within.

" **Quiet!"**

And lo and behold, there was silence.

Two chunin stood at the front of the class. To the right, was their head instructor – Iruka - a man with dark eyes and brown hair that he kept back in a ponytail. A scar running across the bridge of his nose formed one of his most well-known defining characteristics. By his side, stood his assistant Mizuki, a man with green eyes and white, shoulder length hair, with a hint of blue mixed into it.

Having garnered the class's attention, Mizuki walked over to the door and slammed it closed, just as a bell rang in the background, signaling the start of what for many would be the last day of the academy before the term break, and for others, would be the day of their graduation exam, and possibly the day they became shinobi in full.

A pair of heads could be seen peeking into the classroom from outside the door, undoubtedly tardy students that had couldn't arrive before the doors were closed. Pathetic. To think they thought they could be shinobi!

As the teacher passed out the exam, he could tell that he would pass, hands down. The level of difficulty that this test posed was no greater than what he had grown accustomed to over the years, absolutely pitiful.

An hour later, he walked out of the academy building, donning a leaf hitai-ate across his forehead. Hopefully, he wouldn't ever have to return. He felt no pride in putting on the symbol of the leaf, which – years ago – had been a dream. He was past that now. No, this was no more than the means to an end.

As he began his trek back home, he sensed a presence watching him. Coming to a stop where he stood, he looked behind him to see no one. He continued on, as if nothing unusual was afoot, and entered into the small set of trees that bore proximity to his position. Once he was confident that he was beyond range of any potential watcher's gaze, he waited. Moments later, Mizuki emerged from behind the academy building, making his way towards a young boy whose sullen expression as he swung back and forth in the playground revealed that he had failed his graduation test. It was a pity too.

Sado was a really hard working boy. Despite being an orphan, he had managed to scrape by outside of the academy, and for a short while, had been Naruto's only friend, long before the blond had begun to leave his peers behind in the dust. Naruto had even taught him his sexy jutsu, which, he had newly come up with at the time, and which Sado had continued to make use of as pranking material, much to the ire of Iruka-sensei. Of course, they had slowly drifted apart as the Jinchuriki gained new priorities to his life, and his old life became relatively insignificant.

What Naruto now held for the boy could no longer be termed friendship, nor any sense of attachment for that matter, but he could relate. He could empathize with the difficulties of a fellow victim of the same system, and wish him well as a final statement of defiance against the people of Konoha and what they represented. Of course, he wouldn't go out of his way to help him either. The blond himself had excelled on the basis of _his_ merits alone, and Sado would have to do the same. If he failed, then he wasn't worth his time anyway.

However, Naruto knew the kind of person Mizuki was. He trampled on anyone he could, especially if he knew they couldn't fight back, and that is what made him wary of the man in the first place. Seeing the sinister smile on his face when he approached the young boy, he knew something was up. Sado, on the other hand, was far too meek and innocent to realize the mal-intent that his instructor reeked of. And so, it was no surprise when the boy's face lit up like it was his birthday.

' _Definitely a dastardly plot to humiliate the boy even further, and gain something for himself out of it.'_

And so, it was curiosity that led Naruto Uzumaki out that night, following after Mizuki from the shadows as a kage bunshin of his trailed Sado. Soon, he realized what the plan was. While Mizuki led all the village ANBU on a wild goose chase, posing as a rogue Kiri-nin, Sado infiltrated the Hokage Tower to steal a large scroll. A scroll that he recognized on sight. The forbidden scroll of sealing. The naïve young boy ran, and Naruto's clone followed. Pretty useful technique, that Kage Bunshin was, all thanks to Shisui – his soul rest in peace.

Meanwhile, it was interesting to see how Mizuki threw off his chasers by discarding his clothing, dropping his Henge, and reporting to the nearest ANBU team for duty. Conveniently enough, the black ops leader assigned him to search in precisely the location he needed to be, where Sado was waiting. By the time he got there though, he realized he had been bested by Iruka, who had gotten hold of both Sado and the scroll before him. Damn those ANBU for detaining him longer than necessary!

Mizuki readied his Fuuma shuriken, and let loose with a violent throw at the boy. At the last second, Iruka leapt up at the oncoming missile, defending the boy with his back. His body speared through with a foot long blade, Iruka crumpled to the ground. Oh, how he knew this would happen. How he had anticipated this very turn of events. Those emotional fools could be so predictable sometimes. Mizuki had known that Iruka was the only threat there. And were it not for the time limit, even he was not much of a challenge. The boy could be dealt with at any time. And so it was, that with pinpoint accuracy, his kunai descended into the chunin instructor's neck, putting him to his final rest.

As Mizuki jumped down to the forest floor, Sado took hold of the giant scroll tightly, not willing to let go of the valuable object that his teacher had given his life trying to protect. Mizuki towered over the boy's cowering form as he extended his hand, "Hand over the scroll, boy."

"No way! Iruka-sensei died to protect this scroll. You lied to me! I won't let you have it…" Sado exclaimed, as he retreated, crawling.

It surprised Naruto how the kind and soft-spoken boy he knew seemed to have grown a backbone. Perhaps there was some hope for him yet…

"Then you can die too protecting it. Say hello to Iruka for me, would you?"

With that, he body flickered over to the boy's position and plunged his kunai downwards. However, instead of the soft flesh he had expected, it was a solid, unwavering tanto that his blade impacted with. Naruto had jumped in at the last second, deciding to spare his childhood friend one last try at making something of his life.

Not wanting to lose the element of surprise that he still held, the blond let loose a powerful sidekick into Mizuki's stomach, sending him careening into the foliage behind him.

Sado released a quiet sigh of relief as he discovered the identity of his last minute savior. He had been practicing with the Shadow Clone Jutsu for half an hour, and he was dead on his feet. Even now, he had been going on sheer adrenaline, else he would have succumbed to unconsciousness fifteen minutes ago. The technique required a monstrous amount of chakra, and despite him having more chakra than several of his peers - barring some of the clan kids and Naruto of course – he was nowhere near prepared for the amount that the Kage Bunshin demanded. Only forming one clone, with varying levels of success; had lowered his reserves to dangerously low levels. Seeing one more capable than himself entering the playing field, his eyes grew heavy as Nature took its due course. Within seconds, he was asleep.

It didn't take long for Mizuki to get back up, ready to exact retribution on the one who decided he could mess with him when he was on a tight schedule. And that kick hurt too. But all this while, Naruto wasn't sitting idle either. The moment Mizuki emerged from the cover the trees provided him, he was forced to dodge to the left as a flight of shuriken came his way. Jumping to the side, he pulled out a kunai from his weapons pouch, deflecting the second and third volley of projectiles that came soaring his way.

The Kyuubi brat… The kid that had been the cause of several dozen headaches back in the day, just before spontaneously going quiet and apparently repenting from his prankfully wayward ways. Regardless, he remained a victim of his loathing and ill-feelings. The boy was a symbol of all that he had lost, his uncle, cousin, aunt; all lost at the hands of the walking natural disaster that was the demon fox. He had – for years – wished he could get back at it somehow, make it feel the misery it had inflicted upon him, make it somehow experience his pain; and the only way he knew how was through its container. And if he killed the container, the Fox's spirit too would be snuffed out; or at least that's how it _should_ work… And now, the very same individual who needn't do much to earn his ire in the first place, stood in his way to success; to power beyond his wildest dreams. How fortunate that he could kill two birds with one stone. (Same bird, really…)

As he parried the weapons that rained down upon him, he jumped up to a tree branch above him and returned fire with his signature Fuuma Shuriken, a glint of steel revealing the shinobi-grade wire that trailed behind. Naruto dodged the giant weapon and leapt upwards, pushing through the air with a **Futon: Reppushou.** As Newton's Third Law ran its course, Naruto rocketed through the air in pursuit of his target, zigzagging like a deflating balloon. In a matter of seconds, he was upon the academy instructor, a wind chakra enhanced kunai clasped firmly in the reverse grip typical of shinobi.

Of course, Mizuki never knew that. So it came as a debilitating surprise when the kunai he had put up to block the jinchuriki's blow was sliced through like paper, leaving a deep gash running down his forearm. He leveled the blonde with an irate look as he pulled.

It was only thanks to his heightened reflexes honed by extensive training with his Sharingan that Naruto knew he had to duck. Even then, he merely escaped by a hair's width as Mizuki's wire controlled giant shuriken erupted from the place he stood just moments before. Without missing a beat, Naruto spun around with a rising kick to Mizuki's chin, propelling him off of the branch the two stood on. Not willing to give his former teacher a moment of reprieve, he shot off behind him.

Naruto knew that he was up against someone with many more years of experience under his belt than he himself did, but that did not worry him. He had dealt with many a chunin before, and even held his own against jounin, though he couldn't say he had bested many. Nevertheless, in his honest – if not humble – opinion, Mizuki did not pose much of a threat. What worried him though was the fact that other Konoha shinobi could arrive any minute now; and he needed to be over with this fight before they did. Otherwise, he would not only have to reveal his skills to the Hokage, but also would lose this perfect opportunity to get his hands on the Forbidden Scroll of Sealing; an object of monumental importance. After all, it had been a depository of the knowledge of some of the greatest shinobi to walk the Land of Fire, if not the entire continent.

And so it was, that Mizuki - who had barely recovered from the blonde upstart's kick to the chin - found himself staring into a burning ball of fire that flew into his path. With no way to avoid it however – _'smart bastard'_ – he was forced to **Kawarimi** with a nearby boulder. However, it appeared that the brat had anticipated the maneuver, for a violent gale of wind blasted him off his feet as he went flying once more.

' _Where is all this power coming from? He never exhibited such proficiency during any of his spars… It seems I'll have to turn things up a notch.'_

That was his last thought before his back was slammed into the trunk of a gigantic tree. Oh, he would be sore tomorrow morning. Momentarily dazed, the man was too late to evade the **Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Dragon Flame Technique)** that followed.

As the smoke from the explosion began to fade, Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. His Sharingan still blaring – he couldn't afford being caught unaware at this point – he walked over to the slumped form of Sado, who held the scroll tightly to his chest, despite having already fallen unconscious long ago. It said much for the boy's sense of determination that he continued to hold fast to his objective, even subconsciously.

Regardless, it was no tall task for the blond to pry it out of his clutches into his own eagerly awaiting hands. Had the time and place been appropriate, he would have let out a sinister cackle, to mark his successful procurement of such a sought after article. He immediately sealed it into a mazelike seal tattooed onto his upper forearm, ready to make himself scarce.

Fate though, seemed to have other things in mind as an explosion of chakra from under the charred remains of the tree he had lain waste to was witness to the fact that his adversary had not truly been defeated.

Out of the destruction emerged a tall robust individual that he could barely recognize as his teacher (…..not!) for years. He had gained a wild and feral look, the visible portions of his body covered in tiger like stripes. But most importantly, his chakra felt different. Much more dense and powerful; vile. Delicious…

His Sharingan flared back into life as he observed the man turned beast. A layer of purple chakra covered his body, a similar colored aura permeating the air above him.

Mizuki felt like he was living for the first time. The sheer amount of chakra running through his tenketsu was phenomenal. He felt invincible, unbeatable. No one could dare challenge him now. He would give the Kyuubi brat what had been long coming, and then, he would escape with the scroll. This was the fruit of working for Orochimaru-sama and leaving his pathetic 'friends' behind; and it was just as sweet as he was promised. Soon, he would be the holder of power beyond what anyone in that shit hole of a village could ever dream of, and then there would be payback. He'd serve them their just desserts for treating him like he was expendable. And of course, he couldn't forget the money either. He'd finally be able to settle down with Tsubaki and convince her to come live with him in Otogakure.

' _I underestimated the brat earlier. This time, I won't make the same mistake.'_

With that, he pounced on the blond unexpectedly, knocking him over to the ground as he stood over his spread eagled body. The strength flowing through his arms was wonderful. With one strike he had downed his opponent, and this next one would be the final blow. Raising his bloated arm high into the air, he brought it down into the jinchuriki's face.

When the dust cleared, nothing but a crater remained where Naruto's face had once been. As the rest of his body dissolved into mud, hands sprouted out from the ground.

' _Shit! A clone.'_

He immediately leapt high into the air, landing on a tree branch. Almost instantaneously, a volley of kunai shot out from behind another tree trunk, impacting against his large burnt arms which he crossed in front of him. Shrugging off the attack, he jumped off in the direction the attack came from. His bulky arms cut the trunk in half, a poof of smoke from behind it revealing the attacker to have been a shadow clone.

' _This is taking too frickin' long! What with all the chakra output, the ANBU will be on us in a couple minutes.'_

The same thought presided over the Uzumaki's mind. This was a do or die situation. Naruto ran through a series of hand seals as the shadow clone beside him flashed through hand seals of its own. A massive amount of chakra was pumped into the technique as he held his index and middle fingers in front of his mouth.

" **Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!"**

" **Futon: Atsugai!"**

The combination jutsu evolved into a literal firestorm as the blazing inferno rained Hell upon his target. Mizuki - who had felt his body growing slower with each passing second in his transformed state - could not hope to outrun this gargantuan conflagration, and so, he tried in vain to shield himself with his prided arms. Nothing but the smoking remains of a scorched corpse became of efforts. He was finally dead.

Naruto panted as he sought to control his breathing. He had put too much chakra into that combination. Even though it went against his pride to have to resort to such a maneuver where much more subtle methods existed, however, his enemy didn't give him much choice. Even now, he didn't have much time to dally, as half the village was probably aware of his position. He had to leave; now.

But once again, he was hindered. A tall pale shinobi stood before him, with purple lined yellow eyes and waist length black hair. A purple colored rope was tied around his waist, a predatory grin set on his face.

"Absolutely marvelous, young Uchiha. My compliments on defeating Mizuki. Now tell me, where is the scroll?"

"What scroll?" He questioned, perfectly in stride. His confidence didn't waver for a second, though even the way the man walked was reminiscent of the most arrogant shinobi, shinobi who had built up that arrogance over years of experience. He knew this wouldn't be an easy one.

"You amuse me, child. Nevertheless, show me what you can do," the ever present condescending smirk still plastered over his features.

Naruto knew he was working on borrowed time, so he charged, drawing his tanto and running wind chakra through its blade. The man opened his mouth, from which emerged a snake bearing an elegant straight sword in its mouth. Taking hold of the sword, he parried Naruto's swipe, violently pushing his tanto off to the side as he pierced deep into his shoulder, wrenching it downwards towards his heart, then pulling out. The rest of the body disintegrated as it fell lifeless.

Meanwhile, the real Naruto hid below ground, racing away from the battlefield. _'Thank Kami that Kawarimi was just in time,_ ' he expressed a sigh of relief at the close call. _'Holy shit, what is Orochimaru of the Sannin doing here?'_

Having witnessed his foe's blatant use of snake summons, he knew immediately who he was up against, and he was far out of his league. He would be extremely lucky if he escaped from this encounter unscathed.

Alas, the man was an S-class shinobi for a reason, and it wasn't for being unresourceful.

The earth split open as Orochimaru slammed his palm onto the ground, spitting out the escaping blond. A giant snake followed in the wake of the powerful display of nature manipulation. Naruto wasted no time in ensnaring it in one of his ocular genjutsu, before rushing off towards the village once more.

A moment later, his path was blocked by the snake like shinobi, whose very stare very nearly inhibited his muscular movements. Very nearly being the key word; he narrowly avoided being reduced to paste as a chasm opened up beneath him, at the ready to swallow him up. Despite the sharingan's ability to process lightning fast exchanges instantaneously and show them to the user in slow motion, he was nowhere near fast enough to react in time to the punch from behind, nor the drop kick that appeared out of thin air as the man materialized in front of him, in line of his trajectory.

In one short minute, he had gone from tiredly victorious, to exhaustedly defeated. Running through so much chakra in his fight against Mizuki had been a mistake, though given the circumstances, he would be hard pressed to do any better. He needed to end the fight as quickly as possible, and with the chunin's heightened physical abilities due to whatever it was that he had done, going head to head in a Taijutsu bout would have led to a highly drawn out battle of attrition, which would have been a lose-lose situation anyway. Even still, he couldn't place the blame on his previous fight alone.

He still retained a substantial amount of chakra by normal standards, but the order of magnitude by which his new opponent's skills eclipsed his own was without contest. It was over, and he knew it.

Naruto struggled to stand once more, the pain racking his body nigh unbearable. He gathered chakra for a second, and then with a set of successive shunshins on end, traversed almost half the distance to Konoha's outer walls before a long and red ropelike object circled around his foot, arresting his momentum and causing him to land on his hands, cartwheeling back to a standing position. Another tug on his feet and he came crashing down too the ground, but not before running a wind coated hand through the binding holding him, which on later inspection was revealed to be an extension of Orochimaru's tongue. _'A lot could be said about how gross that is, if I didn't have much more stuff important to deal with right now…'_

"I must say, I am quite impressed, young Uchiha. My name is Orochimaru; and I'll be leaving you with a gift, a mere inkling as to what awaits at my disposal. I'm sure you will enjoy it immensely. If it's power you seek, you will know where to find me. Kukuku…" A sinister cackle to go with his typically villainous monologue was followed by his neck extending forth from his body; and Naruto was left powerless to do anything but watch as the Sannin bit the boy on the neck, eliciting a pronounced groan emanating from his throat.

The blond's gaze blurred as semi-unconsciousness overtook him, the departing Sannin's final words ringing in his ears.

" _I hope you'll live up to my expectations, young Uchiha…"_

 **And Cut**

 **Nope, not apologizing for being late as hell. I've been doing that so much, it's going out of fashion.**

 **What did you think? Excited? Disappointed? Intrigued? Feel like flaming the author?**

 **Make sure I find out… Leave a review. I absolutely adore them.**

 **Also, for the last time (I promise this time), I need your suggestions with respect to the team placements, and the pairing as well. As you can see, team placements can't be put off any more. It WILL be done next time.**

 **So far, it seems to be either Kiyomi, Yakumo, or Ino. Your feedback matters, people.**

 **Try to leave a review on your way out.**

 **Also, if you're interested and haven't done so, don't forget to check out my Harry Potter story, Shadow Mage.**

 **Thanks.**

 **I'm out.**


	12. Chapter 12: Finally Genin!

**Vengeful Sage**

Chapter 12: Finally Genin

(Did it _Have_ to Take So Long?)

 **Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto…**

 **I'm enjoying the good feedback, thanks guys. Keep it up.**

 **Also, if you've read this chapter, no need to reread it. And sorry for having to repost it, but a reviewer pointed out that I had Iruka read out the team placements, even though he had died in the previous chapter, so my gratitude to you, yuu1202… I've slightly edited out that part. If you see anything else, feel free to let me know.**

 **As for the other parts, Danzo is slier than most people think. If Naruto tells him that someone very conveniently destroyed Shisui's eyes, which he was commanded to retrieve, Danzo would assume that Naruto was not completely loyal, and would make problems for the blond. Instead, Naruto will bide his time and wait for the perfect opportunity to regain what had to be given.**

 **Second, about why Orochimaru would be watching an agent of his bring him the scroll, there could be many reasons. Number one, he was excited. The scroll was important. Why couldn't he do it himself? He didn't want all of Konoha on his tail. This way, Mizuki would be blamed, and he would get away scot-free. Secondly, he wanted to observe how well his experiments performed in the , it was time for Kabuto's biannual report, and he didn't trust ANYONE with the information but himself, so he came in person to receive it, which is true by the way. It could be any of these reasons. Hope that clears it up. If not, you know where to find me.**

 _"I hope you'll live up to my expectations, young Uchiha…"_

Those words continued to echo through his mind as he was shaken awake, hours after he had been knocked out. Naruto opened his eyes as the brilliant rays of sunlight dazzled him. He lay on his back in the middle of a clearing, concealing a half foot deep impression in the ground where he had been slammed into the forest bed the night before. Instantly on alert, he violently pushed the offending hand away, jumping up in a start before recognizing the feminine hands that had shaken him earlier.

Just then, a haze took over his mind as he lost all sense of control over himself. And then, he felt it. Power; a lot of it - coursing through his veins. The blond could see purple waves of chakra emanating from within him, rising up and around him, cloaking him in their dark and powerful embrace. The feeling was euphoric in nature, making him feel like he never had before – like he could do anything. He flexed his muscles, satisfied with the results. Suddenly, his vision shifted.

He was now in a dark corridor, which looked not much different from the sewers that ran underneath Konoha, and which, many a time, had served as a life saving escape route for the Jinchuriki when faced with vengeful mobs in his youth. Just that the walls were dissolving. Things were falling from the ceiling, and it seemed as if the entire place would fall apart soon. He began to walk forwards, heading towards the door set at the end.

Before Naruto was halfway there, a set of tremors began to shake the hall, and the door opened of its own accord, a purple mist blowing its way in. He continued on, wandering into the mist. In a matter of seconds, he heard sizzling, and soon his naked skin too began to burn. The blond turned back on his heels as he darted back to the other end of the corridor, but it was a dead end, with no way out. His vision shifted once more.

He watched as a woman stood in a fighting stance, ready to counter an impending attack. But he could see no one else in the area but himself. She looked like she had begun fighting already, a bruise on the right side of her cheek an obvious indication. She looked strong, but surely not as strong as himself. _'Why don't we test that…'_

Unsure where that unusual sentiment had come from, but complying nonetheless, he lunged at the woman, who held a shell shocked expression on her face, standing frozen in place for a while before parrying just at the last moment. Her lips were moving, and she was screaming something, but his ears weren't working for some reason. They didn't need to either. He was loving this. Whatever that Orochimaru person had done to him, it was most welcome. His speed had rocketed sky high, and his power was much greater. He could feel it in each swing of his arms, and the way the older kunoichi before him was constantly back pedaling away only further cemented that notion. His eyes blurred once more.

The corridor was slowly filling up with the poisonous purple mist, burning through some of the pipes that ran overhead, spilling out a blue substance, which by its looks, could be nothing else but chakra. But did he care? Not really. He was enjoying this. That feeling of power, of being able to dominate others was worth anything, and a couple pipes lost here and there wouldn't hurt anybody.

He stayed like that for several minutes, basking in the power he felt as his vision alternated several times between the physical world and where he was now. The utopia didn't last though.

His chakra came crashing out of the pipes (multiple ones had been corroded open by now) in a wave of purity, as it began to blow back the invading mist. The evident lack of purple did much to clear up his foggy mind. Regaining his bearings, Naruto shook his head.

 _'What was I thinking? Allowing myself to remain vulnerable like that…'_

Seeing his chance, Naruto called upon his chakra, summoning it to surround him, forming a cloak of blue chakra to counter the purple one as he dashed in through the foggy mist, and despite the highly painful burning sensation of purple chakra eating through his own, he held back his agony as he burst through the door on the other side, emerging into a large circular chamber with a dome like ceiling towering far above.

Right in front of him stood the subject of his nightmares from the night before, his pale skin and long black hair as vivid as last time. Orochimaru's body, though, held a much more serpentine appearance than last time, with a scaled face and arms, all covered in the same dark purple aura that had been seeping into the corridor earlier.

"Ah, Uchiha-kun. How nice of you to join us. You surprise me by coming even this far. Not many have been able to accomplish even so much. How do you like it? My curse mark that is. It's fascinating, isn't it?"

"What do you mean by fascinating?"

"Look at the world around you." And look he did. He could now see a hole in the walls of the chamber, showing himself, surrounded in the purple aura, completely dominating his fight with the woman.

"Look at yourself. You're playing around with her. The power of the curse mark knows no bounds. Regular Jonin stand no chance against you now. And when you master it, and if you chose to obtain the secret to the second stage of the cursed seal, you will become invincible. Kukukuku!"

The jinchuriki's eyes flashed red as he awakened his fully matured Sharingan, "Do not think you can mess with my body and get away with it, Orochimaru." The boy stated sternly, as he began racing through hand seals.

 **"Ryuuka no Jutsu!"** A deluge of fire sprayed out from Naruto's mouth, filling his line of sight with flames, but his eyes still roved around the area, searching for someplace where his opponent would appear from. _'It couldn't have been that easy…'_

"Kukukuku."

Behind him stood the snakelike man, absolutely unharmed. "Tut-tut. Not so easy young Uchiha. Time is a ticking. As we speak, the curse seal's chakra is penetrating through your system, establishing its hold. Soon, it will be in control. Unless, of course, if you come to me. There, you will learn to control it, to harness all that delicious power and direct it to your will."

"Do not over-estimate yourself, Orochimaru. This is my body, my rules." Naruto realized he wasn't sure he could back up that statement, but the one thing he couldn't tolerate was not being in control of himself. It was the one thing he prided himself on after all. Control, discipline, finesse. The qualities most sought after in a shinobi. Something he had put himself through hell to achieve. He wouldn't let it go that easily.

All of a sudden, the blond remembered how he had gotten here through the corrosive mist. It was _his_ body. His chakra had to be permeating the place. He placed his hands in the ram seal, summoning as much chakra as he could feel. That same blue glow that had covered him earlier once more engulfed him, only this time, it was much stronger. And then, a large tap fitted into a nearby pipe wide enough for a horse slowly opened up, wave upon wave of dense dark blue chakra flowing out of it like a roaring river. The Sannin didn't know what hit him.

One second, he was enjoying his taming of the young boy that struggled before him, and the next, he was being assaulted from all sides by an incredibly dense chakra in such great quantity that he himself was hard pressed for survival. It went without saying of course, that he only had a fraction of his power sealed here with the curse mark. The majority of his power was supposed to come from the Senjutsu chakra that the curse mark was supposed to absorb, but it hadn't had enough time yet. He wasn't expecting the boy to awaken for at least another day.

If that wasn't bad enough, what nature chakra _was_ absorbed was being directed by Jugo's genes to pump it through the boy's body, once the curse seal was activated. That had to stop.

Regardless, despite shutting down the curse mark and rerouting all of the remaining chakra to himself, he was too late to do anything as the slicing blades of wind chakra shredded him limb from limb.

Naruto took a deep breath as he observed the results of his effort. It was amazing what scale of attacks were possible inside one's mindscape – he assumed that's where he was – that you couldn't actually do in real life. Molding so much chakra and concentrating it in one place of your body required a trying amount of focus, focus that held no meaning inside your head. Having exhaled a mighty storm of hurricane winds which – had he not been fighting an S rank shinobi – he was sure would have annihilated his opponent, he waited for the dust to clear.

In place of the tall pale skinned man that was trying to take control over his body, there now stood a gargantuan serpent, easily twenty five feet tall, and nearly thrice as long. The giant serpent appeared to be covered in white scales all through its body, but on closer inspection, he found that it consisted of myriads of smaller white snakes intertwined together to form the giant of a creature.

"Oh… shoot."

"Kukukuku…"

"What does it take to kill this guy?"

"Behold my true form, young Uchiha. And be proud you have made it this far. Of all those who have seen it, none had lived to tell the tale. But don't worry, I won't kill you yet. I still have plans for you."

With that, round two commenced. A new flood of purple chakra came rolling off of the beast, spreading surprisingly quick to the far corners of the chamber. Had it not been for being immersed in coat upon coat of his own quite potent chakra, Naruto knew he would have dissolved right from the get go.

Despite that though, it was now Naruto who was on the back foot as Orochimaru now actively initiated the attack. He had had enough fun and games, it seemed. Slithering across the floor at a velocity that belied his size, the snake struck dead center, with the blond having time enough to just barely cross his arms in an awkward block. Yet, he was sent flying back, crashing to a stop in front of a set of iron bars reaching high into the horizon.

He could see those bars extending to the far reaches of his vision on either side, with a dark mass lying on the other side. He had no time to contemplate this however, as the colossal predator was hot on his heels. Forming two shadow clones, he stood his ground as they each charged an insane amount of chakra into their bodies, releasing all at once to devastating effects.

The attacking serpent was rent asunder and scorched black as the literal firestorm cooked anything in its path, even blowing through several large chakra pipes in the vicinity. Heaving a sigh of relief, Naruto was nowhere near prepared for the sonic shockwave of a roar that the creature emitted in rage as it mended itself back. The split parts were reconnected as new snakes grew out of its abdomen and replaced the dead parts of its body.

 _'He sure looks pissed off now…'_

In a roar of outrage, Orochimaru's true form uncoiled in a violent jerk missing its target and slamming into the giant bars that could only be a prison of sorts. The tremors from the collision could be felt everywhere in the chamber. Once more, the incensed serpent pounced, and once more Naruto dodged, leaving the serpent's head to bash into the giant bars. Getting up to recover from the hit to its head, another ominous feeling arose from behind the bars. A bit of movement, and then the huge dark mass rose, a deep voice resounding through the chamber.

 **"Who dare wake me from my rest? Who brings this impure essence to my prison?"**

The serpent backed off, trying to assess the threat level of this new player in the field. He had not expected another being to be sharing a mind with the young gem of an Uchiha he had discovered, let alone, that he would be a Jinchuriki, of the Nine-tails at that. He could only hope that the boy himself had no knowledge of how to harness the tailed beast's power.

 _'I've struck gold, it seems. There's no opportunity like the present to avail the Kyuubi's chakra and strike a deal with it.'_

"It is I, Uzumaki Naruto, your jailor and Jinchuriki." In all this while, Naruto had been scrutinizing the numerous seal tags placed on separate pillars along the length of the prison. "I'm here to demand access to your chakra, Kyuubi."

 **"What do you take me for, tiny human? A mere tool you may use as you please? No one commands the great Kyuubi, Lord of Makai! I do not fight others' battles. Fight them yourself if you think you're so great."**

"You _will_ lend me your chakra, because if you don't, not only my body, but also _you_ will become subservient to Orochimaru's will. This whole place will reek of the grotesque chakra that you have just had a taste of so far."

 **"Foolish human! What do I gain by helping you?"**

"You gain access to - ", a loud creaking broke him off as the Jinchuriki saw the snake opening its mouth, charging up a beam of pure chakra to shoot out at him. Naruto summoned three shadow clones, who nodded to him, getting to work inscribing seals on the ground at lightning speed, setting up the fastest barrier they could think of as the original continued to speak with its prisoner, a sense of urgency creeping into his tone.

"You gain access to a portion of your chakra at all times, and you will no longer be held in place by the chains that bind you now, on the condition that you never use the chakra against me."

 **"Hmmph. It is still you who stands to gain from this."**

"Time's up, boy." Orochimaru butted in, his head poking out of the serpent's head, "Earlier, I had no idea you were a Jinchuriki. I will no longer go easy on you now that I do." The monster then released the massive amounts of energy it had charged up, shooting out the beam like a blast from a cannon.

The Jinchuriki's shadow clones however had not been sitting idle, as they arranged themselves to counter the incoming threat. With the original powering the barrier, putting in all the juice he could muster, it stood strong against the gradually weakening attack, an indication that it wasn't just the blond who had emptied his reserves giving his all to this exchange. And though it seemed to have been a stalemate, with both attack and defense unable to continue due to lack of chakra, Naruto knew that it was his defeat.

Despite both being out of steam, the sheer physical capabilities of the great white snake monumentally outclassed any such physical endeavor from the downed boy, and they both knew that.

Seeing its chance, the snake swooped in for the kill, ready to hold the boy's mind in his clutches, steering him towards defecting from Konoha and coming to join his real master. How sad that his Jinchuriki status would mess with the Sanin's plans to use him as a future vessel for his soul. He would surely find some other use for him. He was a diamond in the trough after all.

 **"Impressive. For a human child, that is. I will help you, if only to see how far you will go. Release my bonds then. My chakra as well."**

Without a hint of hesitation, Naruto peeled off one of the paper seals imbedded on the iron pillar. The effects were nigh on instantaneous. Torrent upon torrent of red fiery chakra flooded the chamber, coalescing into a solid mass outside the prison. The chakra shaped itself into a smaller version of the fox, ready to confront the towering serpent.

Despite being much smaller in stature, it didn't take long for anyone to guess that the fox would be victorious. Its vastly more potent chakra inundated the place, leaving the snake suffocating. It then attacked the monster, pinning it down as a fresh flood of Bijuu chakra engulfing the behemoth decided the outcome.

Mere moments into the encounter, the already exhausted serpentine monster was trounced. Its body dissolved into nothingness, as the purple chakra receded into an opening in the far wall, thinning out until nothing remained.

 **"My bonds, boy!"**

"Uhh, got it." The blond Jinchuriki trudged over to the iron gate, removing another seal tag. A clinking sound indicated that the chains had released his prisoner, as they gratingly retreated back from whence they came. It was finally over.

 _'I can barely stand right now. It's a miracle I was able to hold on for as long as I did. Need some rest.'_

"Until next time then, Kyuubi."

 **"Hmph."**

With drooping eyes, Naruto returned to the corridor he had first appeared in, finally succumbing to the blackness that grasped at his vision. Then, the lights went out.

It felt like he had spent quite a while resting, but he couldn't tell really. He awoke finding himself in the same position he had a short while ago; a woman shaking him awake. Déjà vu, really. "What has gotten into you, brat?"

She asked worriedly. Looking around at the way the forest had seemed to have experienced a natural disaster, "Why do you have the curse mark? What were you doing out here anyway?"

Not in a condition to immediately give an answer to the plethora of questions that came his way, Naruto gave the person a once over. She was the person who he was fighting in his dream – or was that reality? The blood flowing down her cheeks and the bruises on her legs said yes it was.

She was a young woman of average height; with light brown eyes and violet hair styled in a short spiky fanned ponytail. She wore a tight fitted mesh suit that stretched from her neck down to her thighs, over which she wore a tan over coat and a dark orange min-skirt, none of which did much to hide the woman's voluptuous body.

Anko Mitarashi was someone he had come to recognize years ago. Any observant person in Konoha would. She was an outcast, ostracized just as he was, by the civilian populace at least. The shinobi ranks at least seemed to hold some sort of respect for her, or was that a tinge of fear as well? In any case, she persevered.

He knew because she was a good friend of Shisui's back when he still lived. It was not uncommon for the duo to retire to a dango stand on their way back from a long day of strenuous training, where meeting up with Anko was all but assured.

"God, Anko! What happened to you? Did I do that?"

A matter-of-fact stare was all he got.

"Ok, so I was really out of it. But it's under control now, it won't happen again. I'm sorry."

"No seriously brat, what happened? Is everything OK?

Naruto donned his public face once more, making sure he looked as anxious as he _should_ be. "No Anko, everything isn't alright. Mizuki-sensei stole the Forbidden Scroll of Seals and tried to escape with it. I pursued and confronted him over there." He pointed to the clearing that he had trashed the night before. "Mizuki-sensei turned out to be stronger than I expected, and he was using some bastardization of Orochimaru's curse mark. After a long battle, I was able to defeat him, but what I didn't realize was that the snake himself was lying in wait. He gave me a right thrashing and left me with this hickey as a souvenier."

"That bastard! So Mizuki was working for Orochimaru all along? He must be the spy we were trying to root out for so long…" The blond's narrative broke off as the over zealous kunoichi got started on her passionate tirade. "So did he get away?"

"Obviously…"

"And the curse mark?"

"The Kyuubi's chakra expelled Orochimaru's influence from it, leaving just the power and none of the mind control and loss of perception that accompanies it."

"Well that's good."

"Oh, and Anko?"

"Yes?"

"I'd like it if you kept the part about Orochimaru and my cursed seal a secret. You know how people are. I don't want to give them yet another stupid reason to hate me."

"You sure? Maybe you can have Jiraiya have a look at it. Seal it away so it doesn't bother you. Like mine."

"No, I'm good. Besides, I think I have enough experience with Fuuinjutsu to deal with it on my own."

"That bastard! I swear I'll kill him for everything he's done!" The purple haired woman pumped her fist in one of her typical displays of passion.

"You won't be alone, Anko. I'll make sure you fulfill your dream."

"You know what? Despite your sometimes stoic exterior, you're actually a pretty sweet brat," Anko exclaimed, snatching the blond up in a hug, which he grudgingly endured for the first three seconds.

"Ok, that's enough Anko. No need to plaster your boobs all over me for full effect. I get the point…"

 _'What do you know? You get new alliances and win over new loyalties every day…"_

With a triumphant grin, the blond hopped off home.

 _'Now, to delve into that delicious scroll I've just gotten myself…'_

XXX

"Team 1 will be …."

The absence of both Iruka sensei and Mizuki-sensei was quite obvious as Iruka's junior assistant Takada stood alone before the class, turning even the most interesting part of the year into nothing more than a droning mess.

"And Team 7 will consist of Uchiha Kiyomi, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto. Your instructor will be Hatake Kakashi…"

Three loud groans signified that the students knew who they were being handed off to. Naruto had regaled them quite often of tales of Kakashi-sensei, the man who would be late for his own funeral. But on second thought, they weren't really all that unfortunate after all. Seeing that they – along with one or two others - were the last Uchiha genin alive, it only stood to reason that Sharingan no Kakashi would be their teacher.

"That's funny. I don't recall Konoha admin ever being that efficient before. Especially with regards to me…"

"True that." Kiyomi replied. "I wonder what went right this time around."

She and Sasuke had been told of Naruto's burden by the Jinchuriki himself, after the Uchiha massacre. It was just a way for them to know that he could relate to their pain. That he too had gone through so much melancholy in his life, that he could empathize. They had taken it surprisingly well, given the circumstances, now that she thought about it.

While Kiyomi only increased in respect for the boy, Sasuke grew jealous as well. Well, Sasuke grew jealous of _anyone_ with some sort of special ability these days. The massacre had truly screwed with his head. It took a thousand promises on both their ends that they would help him achieve his ambition that he grew to accept Naruto's newly revealed power.

It still confused her to this day. What went wrong in that perfect life of theirs? What made Itachi snap? Snap and kill off over 95% of the clan? It was just unprecedented.

 _'It's just not fair. Konoha wasn't ever fair to the Uchiha anyway. Always preferring the Senju over us, and now one of our very own betrays us. Sensei, I'll avenge you if it's the last thing I do…'_

"We're going to be in for a pretty long wait, aren't we?"

"Yup, might as well get comfortable." Having said that, the blond got up and motioned for the others to follow. Sasuke was already quite used to his friend's antics, and not the least in the mood for arguing, so he just followed suit. Kiyomi, though, was curious.

"Where are you going? We're supposed to wait here."

"Just come. This idiot is gonna go anyway." Sasuke urged.

"Fine."

The three walked in relative silence as they left the academy building, climbing up the stairs behind the Hokage building to reach the path leading up to the top of the Hokage Monument.

"There. Now we can relax in peace, and we can see when Kakashi-sensei arrives."

He set up camp on the head of the Yondaime, resting his back on one of his spiky hard locks. Kiyomi too, took a seat a seat right by him. But Sasuke remained standing. He stared off into the distance, an angry look in his eyes. But soon, that anger turned into resolute firmness.

"Spar with me, Naruto," he declared.

"Fine, fine. Ruin the mood."

Naruto got up, summoning a shadow clone to keep watch over the academy building for him. Placing his index and middle fingers on a spot on his upper forearm, he concentrated some chakra to unseal his tanto, which he fixed to his upper back for ease of access.

"Ready?"

"Hey, don't forget about me." Kiyomi called out as she too ran up to join the standoff.

"Alright then. Let's begin."

Three sets of Sharingan blared into existence as the spar commenced, absolutely oblivious to the two other sets of eyes that stood hidden in the distance, judging the competence of the last scions of the Uchiha.

 **And Cut**

 **The teams have finally been revealed. This marks the end of the pre-genin days. I apologize for dragging everything out so much.**

 **I think it's pretty obvious why this team was chosen. From the point of view of Kakashi, the Hokage, and general perception. The populace still respect the Uchiha as the powerful clan they once were, and they expect to see the new generation of Uchiha in capable hands, which translates to Kakashi as he is the only experienced user of the Sharingan still loyal to Konoha. Kakashi has made it a condition that he must teach Naruto, so you get the team that you do. No rookie of the year and dead last logic.**

 **For those of you who wanted to see Yakumo, fear not. She will have a role in the future.**

 **I wanted to do some character development this chapter, but I think I failed at that again.**

 **As for Ino, we'll see.**

 **Overall, what did you think? Excited? Disappointed? Intrigued? Feel like flaming the author?**

 **Make sure I find out… Leave a review. I absolutely adore them. Oh, and if you disliked it, tell me what exactly bothered you. I'll try to see if I can incorporate your ideas into the story. If not, maybe in another story. Keep your hopes up.**

 **Thanks.**

 **I'm out.**


	13. Chapter 13: Bumped Up to A-Rank

**Vengeful Sage**

Chapter 13: Bumped Up to A-Rank!

 **Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto…**

 **It's been a loong time now, and sorry people; no excuse. Not even gonna try. No idea when the next update is gonna be.**

 **Also, for the guest reviewer who was concerned about Makai being involved, no need to take it so seriously. It was merely a dialogue that will have nothing to do with the plot unless I change my mind sometime in the future. In that case, I'll warn you beforehand.**

" _Ready?"_

" _Hey, don't forget about me." Kiyomi called out as she ran up to join the standoff._

" _Alright then. Let's begin."_

 _Three sets of Sharingan blared into existence as the spar commenced, absolutely oblivious to the two other sets of eyes that stood hidden in the distance, judging the competence of the last scions of the Uchiha._

Sasuke was the first to make a move as the boy leaped down at his rival below him, careful not to lose his footing as he descended down the stone forehead of the Yondaime Hokage, eager to take out his frustration against the world on the blond before him.

Naruto however, was not one to allow his opponent the high ground without just cause, and so, seconds before impact, he shunshined over to the top of the Hokage monument, where he was joined momentarily by Kiyomi. Sasuke, on the other hand, was pouring all his efforts into overcoming his downward momentum, lest he should fall off the surface. He had anticipated a block or parry from the blond, which would have reduced his speed considerably, all the while unbalancing Naruto to give him less time to recover and respond to his second assault.

A sudden lack of decelerating impulse before him sent him stumbling down the mountain face, desperately grasping for any sort of handhold on the uneven surface. Finally having regained his balance after several crucial seconds of flailing wildly at the rocky cliff, Sasuke could not help but cross his arms to ward off the spinning kick that rocketed into his side, courtesy of his cousin. The two had teamed up against him as usual, hoping to knock out the 'cocky one' right from the get go. He of course ended up spread-eagled on the roof of the Hokage tower after having been launched off the face of the Yondaime.

He was offered no respite as he was forced to roll backwards and summersault into a standing position as what was most likely an Earth clone of Naruto slammed his boot down where his chest had been earlier. Naruto drew his tanto, unsheathing it from his back as he allowed Sasuke to settle into his stance. He was buying time, which only confirmed that it was a clone. The real Naruto was probably still somewhere on the cliff, battling it out with Kiyomi.

"Hey Broody… What's wrong? Where'd all that talk go?"

Sasuke lashed out with a snarl, releasing a hail of shuriken as he began moving, dashing this way and that, just as his brother- no, that man - had shown him - oh so long ago – never staying in one place long enough to become a target. He zigzagged his way to the clone, who seemed content with parrying all of his projectiles with his tanto, expertly weaving it through the flight of ninja weapons. Ever since Naruto had started using his Sharingan in conjunction with his tanto, his kenjutsu skills had grown remarkably. His strokes had become more refined, his movements more fluid, his sight ever sharper and his strikes and parries far more precise. Not a movement was wasted. He moved his tanto ever so slightly, just tilting it so that the shuriken ricocheted away, falling uselessly to the side.

Sasuke engaged the clone in a close up Taijutsu match, darting into his guard and going in for a knife jab to the abdomen, which the blonde evaded, leaping back a couple feet. The two clashed once more, Sasuke wielding a regular kunai to account for his opponent's tanto. Sparks flew as the weapons clanged against each other, once, again, and a third time. The rivals disengaged, glaring each other down as they took their stances for another bout.

Meanwhile, the real Naruto was involved in battling the third member of their newly formed squad. She was a ferocious fighter, and just about as skilled as Sasuke, though in a one on one contest, she would probably win just on experience and her smaller sized ego.

Kiyomi too was someone who had experienced loss at a similar magnitude as Sasuke. She had not only lost the only family she knew, including her older brother, parents and everyone else, she had lost her sensei as well, who also happened to be an Uchiha in the massacre. All of this on top of her Inuzuka teammate's crippling injuries in the previous Chunin Exams at Suna had left her quite depressed and gloomy, with Naruto and Sasuke as the only people in the world who she still felt close to and with whom she enjoyed being.

Especially Naruto. With Sasuke falling into his sulky moods, Naruto was the one who held the two of them away from insanity, almost stupidly persistent in his joviality, never succumbing to the air of melancholy as he would show up every day, pushing for a spar.

Even now, where Sasuke was busy trying to prove he was as good as if not better than Naruto, Naruto would not let her feel like she wasn't part of the group, finding a way to engage both of them simultaneously. That was why she had petitioned to the Hokage to put her in a team with those two. That was why – when it came out that genin Uchiha could no longer live alone - she had decided she would be moving in with the blond, and she would drag Sasuke with her kicking and screaming. They were all she had left of her perfect world, a world that had been shattered by an otherworldly blast, and now she could do naught but try to gather the scattered shards.

Shaking herself out of memory lane, Kiyomi caught the smile that threatened to break out on her lips as she thought of the boy that now stood ten feet from her, waiting for her to come back from her day dream so they could spar. Rubbing the back of her head awkwardly, she took her stance.

"Ready to lose to a girl?" she called out.

"A bloodline wielding demon-eyed veteran genin girl who has at least a year of experience over me? Nah, never." He remarked with a snort.

"You're not gonna shut up on your own are you?"

"I'm not gonna grace that with a response."

With that, Kiyomi lashed out with a handful of Shuriken, letting them soar into Naruto's face, which he dodged almost immediately, but Kiyomi had only needed the split second to run through the seals for the jutsu she intended to use. Making use of her two- tomoed Sharingan to predict precisely where the blond would dodge to, she took a deep breath, lifting her fingers to her mouth as she let loose with a screaming fireball.

" **Katon: Goukakyu no Jutsu!"**

Having predicted this would happen, as it was usually one of Kiyomi's normal opening moves, Naruto substituted with a log lying on the edge of the forest beyond, coming back into the fight with a drawn tanto. The girl too had drawn her kunai, and so the spar began in earnest, as the two moved into close range, swinging their respective weapons at each other while blocking the other's attempts. Soon however, it became apparent that Naruto would continue to dominate this fight if only due to his weapon's greater reach.

The back and forth continued for several minutes until Kiyomi began to slow, and Naruto landed a glancing blow to her waist. With a stifled moan, she jumped back to make some distance between the two, but Naruto wouldn't let her get away that easily. In a single leap, he closed the distance between the two and they were back to square one.

Sending all caution to the wind, Kiyomi turned her back to the blond and set out in the opposite direction at a full sprint, Naruto quick at her tail. In a matter of seconds, he had come within reach and front kicked her body into a nearby tree, but as she flew away, a fireball came flying in Naruto's face, forcing him to turn his attention to jumping out of the way. As Kiyomi fell to the ground below, Naruto was already upon her, sword pointed at her prone body.

"Yield!" He demanded.

Until his Sharingan noted the glow of chakra from her abdominal region.

"Shit! It's a fake."

He quickly leapt away as the scorching winds from the ensuing explosion slammed into his face, leaving darkened spots on his face where they had burned him.

' _Thank goodness I closed my eyes, that explosion was far stronger than any ordinary explosive tag…'_

Naruto took a ready stance as he used his Sharingan to scour the training field for his opponent. Hearing a rustling noise to the left, he created a shadow clone, which started bombarding that area with low level fire jutsu. In the meanwhile, the original searhed any further signs of movement, and stood at the ready, having already gathered the chakra necessary for his next move.

The moment his quarry showed up escaping from the line of fire, he instantly engaged with his tanto. Kiyomi made to block with her kunai, but in that moment, made the mistake that cost her the spar; she looked into the red eyes of a prepared Naruto. Instantly, she fell unconscious.

Having cleaned things up here, Naruto moved to finish up the fight with Sasuke as his clone hefted his teammate over his shoulder.

Down by the roof of the Hokage building, Sasuke was bent over huffing as he finally managed to get rid of that annoying-ass clone of Naruto's. Being an earth clone, it could weather far more punishment than the average ordinary clone could, and was also not too much of a chakra drain on its creator. The clone had inherited Naruto's creative mind (loathe as he was to admit to it) and kept him on his toes as he was forced to preserve chakra for when he fought Naruto, while the clone had no such compunctions.

Hearing the sounds of battle quieting down from the Hokage Mountain, the earth clone realized that it wouldn't have to hold out for long. It let loose with reckless abandon; it's only purpose to wear down its opponent before the original came to wrap things up.

" **Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!" (Fire Release: Dragon Flame Technique)**

Letting out a searing torrent of fire, the clone didn't wait to see what became of Sasuke as he followed it up with one of the most powerful wind techniques he knew (credits to Danzou for that one).

" **Futon: Hageshi Kaze!" (Wind Release: Torrential Wind)**

A tornado's worth of ruthless gale-force winds blew upon the fiery conflagration that ensued from his previous jutsu, carrying the all-encompassing flame to the four corners of the rooftop, in addition to blowing off the metal railing lining the edges of the building. Moments later a violent crash announced the breaking off of the spiral staircase leading to the top.

' _Oops! At least I'll be dispelled long before the boss finds out…'_

Sasuke had so far been fighting cautiously, preserving as much chakra as he could for the actual fight, but getting his arms charred from the intense fire techniques had left him short of patience. Going through the motions for a low power but insanely quick and widespread lightning jutsu, Sasuke lowered both arms to the ground as he channeled chakra to his palms.

" **Raiton: Kaminari Saji!" (Lightning Release: Lightning Surge)**

Electricity raced from where his palms touched the ground in all directions, leaving no avenue of escape for the Naruto clone as it flowed up its body, the shock causing it to dispel.

As Sasuke took a couple moments to recover, his rest was interrupted by the figure of the blond menace himself standing on the Yondaime's head.

"Wow, Sasuke… You finally beat my clone." Naruto made his presence known as a clone appeared, carrying the prone form of his cousin.

"Don't get too cocky, Naruto. I'm only getting warmed up!" Sasuke replied. That superior smirk that the Jinchuriki carried was frustrating beyond belief. The fact that he could usually back it up didn't serve to make things any better.

The blond leapt down onto the rooftop, sheathing his tanto as he assumed his stance, feet wide in the Taijutsu style that he had developed with Shisui, and later perfected with Danzou. Both boys were raring to go until they stiffened, sensing a familiar Chakra signature showing up.

"You're early…" Naruto remarked.

"Well, I decided the two of you had done enough damage to the Hokage Tower for one day…" He deadpanned. "Hasn't even been three hours since the team was formed and already, you'll be paying thousands of ryo in damages."

"I deny all responsibility for this. It was entirely duck-butt's fault." He pointed at his teammate.

"No matter. Let this be a lesson in teamwork then."

Both boys' faces paled at the thought of what that meant.

"Kiyomi's on the team too, right? So does that mean…"

"Huh, someone talking about me?" She sat up groggily, steadying herself with her arms.

"Yes of course, the folly of the individual is the folly of the team. Those that abandon their teammates are worse than scum. If it's actually worth so much to you, maybe you'll think twice before going at each other's throats around valuable property next time." Kakashi's trademark eye-smile did nothing to quiet the phantom groans that each of their wallets gave.

"Anyway. Meet me at training ground 7 in five minutes so we can get down to business." With that, the masked ninja poofed out of existence. He was quickly followed by three sets of poofs, one for each of the genin as they arrived at the designated location momentarily.

"That was fast…" said Kakashi, looking up from the orange little book he was reading I wasn't expecting you for another couple of minutes – Oh who am I kidding, this is the sister and apprentice of Shisui of the Body Flicker I'm talking about here, along with their third wheel of a sidekick."

"Oiye!"

"Anyway, now that you're here, let's all introduce ourselves."

XXX

The team test had not been what he had expected. The three _genin_ were anything but. Each of them possessed power and skill to rival a newly promoted chunin at the very least, and that became apparent quite vividly in the opening moments of the test.

The three had already decided that the bells would go to Naruto and Sasuke, since Kiyomi being a seasoned genin could not conceivably be sent back to the academy as their instructor had promised, and so it was the two boys that needed to prove their mettle and secure their spots as elite genin who were offered jounin sensei's, as opposed to the hundreds of genin who failed to catch the eye of an elite jounin such as Kakashi.

That decided, it became an exercise in teamwork, where they enacted several combo's that they had rehearsed time and time again against Shisui or occasionally even Ita – _that_ man.

Kakashi felt irked. His attempts at splitting up his team failed miserably, and they had begun to work like a well oiled machine, no doubt the result of long training sessions together. Either they already knew the true meaning of the test, which was highly unlikely, as it was established tradition not to give away the secret of the bell test to aspiring new genin, or they were truly so selfless that they put the success of the team above their own. In either case, it seemed like he might actually have to pass them.

That was the _hook_.

Proficiency in a straight up Taijutsu fight, even though he was taking things easy on them, expertise at detecting and dispelling different types of low level Genjutsu, and a mastery of various elemental jutsu that no fresh out of the academy genin had any business knowing.

 _Line._

But things really came to a head when all three of them leapt out of the bushes they had been hiding behind. He'd already had a read on their locations before they broke cover, though Kakashi had to admit that their stealth was not bad.

"Maneuver Gamma!" Naruto cried as he came charging into the field.

"Roger."

"Roger."

Sasuke let loose with a hail of shuriken at their masked team leader, forcing him to dodge. Sharingan blaring, Sasuke knew exactly which direction Kakashi would dodge right before he did, and so he continued to pepper him with the ninja weapons, herding him to where Kiyomi and Naruto lay in wait. Naruto waited until Kakashi went past his position, and then launched himself at the masked nin from behind, going straight for the bells. At the same time, another Naruto jumped up from behind the first one and leapt straight at the man, tanto drawn.

Kakashi turned around at the last second, parrying the more imminent attack to his person with a kunai in his right hand, and blocking the following punch to his torso with his left. He lashed out with a devastating kick to the Naruto who had come into range of the bells, until it suddenly went up in a poof.

Kakashi's eye turned to the one he was engaged in a deadlock with as he saw the Sharingan set in his eyes.

"Nice trick. Distracting me with the original while a clone went for the bells. But not quite good enough though."

And then it was over.

The genjutsu only managed to keep hold for all of three seconds, before Kakashi realized something wasn't right, but those three seconds, in a shinobi battle, could mean the difference between life and death.

The illusion was powerful in that it didn't change much at all. It still showed the world as Kakashi had last perceived it, both of his arms engaged with blocking Naruto's previous attacks. What it didn't show was Kiyomi getting in position behind him slapping the third tag in place to complete the configuration for the three-corner barrier Fuuinjutsu that suddenly appeared around the two deadlocked shinobi.

Those translucent blue walls going up were the first thing Kakashi saw after having broken out of the illusion, having no time to escape from the rapidly forming prison. At least Naruto was trapped in there with him.

Poof.

Or not.

"Bravo, bravo. You seem to have trapped me. But you still do not have the bells." Kakashi taunted coolly. "How long will you keep me here before you run out of cha - ?"

He was cut off as a kunai whistled through the air, forcing him to dodge in the little confined space he had available.

"Pass us. Else by the time you get out of there, you'll have become a spike filled pincushion." Sasuke stated wisely.

 _And sinker._

XXX

Nobody ever said doing D-Ranks was fun. Particularly when the job entailed collecting all the dung some idiotic farmer's cows had laid out on their neighbor's porch and garden, and applying it as fertilizer to his fields. Especially when two members of the three man team had gotten used to far more exciting missions over the past year. The glares and And so it is that we find a trio of grumpy teenagers finishing up with a job that they would never again sign up for of their own free will.

"That's it! I'm sick and tired of this. This entire mission is bullshit!" Sasuke finally broke the silence.

"Well duh… that's what the client said. You're literally being paid to deal with his bullshit. What did you expect?" came the typical Naruto reply.

"Rose smelling bullshit maybe?" Kiyomi pitched in snarkily.

"Given that the stupid cows ate up half the garden, I wouldn't be surprised if it actually did smell of roses."

Sasuke tossed the final piece of dung into the fields as he breathed a sigh of relief, aching to go anywhere but here. As if on cue, Kakashi showed up right in their midst, his eyes not looking up at all from his apparently _very interesting_ smut.

"Well done, team. Let's go collect our payment and the next mission for the day." Kakashi spoke in that sing song voice, intimately aware of how torturous the very thought was.

"Please, no more D-Ranks!" Sauke moaned. "I'll die if I have to do a single D-Rank more."

"I must say, I agree with Sasuke. We've already completed over 40 missions. This is getting ridiculous." Kiyomi added with a whine.

"Do you share the same sentiments, Naruto?"

"Most definitely."

"Well then, you may present your case before Hokage-sama."

XXX

The next morning, we find five people walking out of Konoha's main gate – Konoha's Team 7, their sensei (who was surprisingly only 3 minutes late as opposed to his customary 3 hours) and an old man named Tazuna – a bridge builder from wave who needed a shinobi squad to escort him back to his home. Suspicious as that was (given he apparently came to Konoha alone and had no business there in the first place), the genin team nevertheless had jumped at the opportunity to finally do a C-Rank mission after having slaved their way through a month's worth of grueling but unexciting and mundane D-Ranks, barring of course, the horrible experience that was doing a joint D-Rank with Team Gai of all people, which consisted less of useless chore completion than it did a monstrous physical endurance regimen, specialized genjutsu resistance training (we all know which one) and last but certainly not least, learning how to periodically and spontaneously disconnect their fragile minds from their audio sensory perceptions, lest they be damaged from excessive exposure to the Springtime of Youth.

Setting the record for fastest completion of the capture Tora mission and the scathing glares and suspicious looks that now not only Naruto, but also Sasuke and Kiyomi had received from the local clientele had been the highlight of these missions.

As if to add to their misery, the same villagers who had once sung praises of the surviving Uchiha prodigies now looked at them with looks of scorn and deep-rooted suspicion. Upon snooping around while under a henge at Kakashi's behest, the two public and one secret Uchiha had discovered the cause.

Rumors – rumors that had stemmed from the general population's mistrust of the Uchiha ever since the devastation caused by the Kyuubi, and had developed ever since the Uchiha massacre. Rumors of rebellion, of a plot to turn against Konoha.

' _How the hell did that get out?'_ Naruto had thought to himself.

Even among the surviving Uchiha, only he knew that there was such a plot, and that too due to his close association with Danzo in the past.

' _Someone deliberately leaked this!'_ He finally decided that he would get to the bottom of this, sooner or later, and when he did, they would pay.

It wasn't bad enough that Konoha had screwed his family over first by withholding their help until all was lost and Uzushiogakure had fallen, then at his parents' death, where anyone could have stepped forward and volunteered themselves to be the sacrifice for the jutsu that sealed the Kyuubi, or even volunteered their own child for the sealing – all the while spouting bullshit about how only an Uzumaki could hold the Kyuubi.

The Sandaime Hokage could most certainly have stepped up to the task, his days had passed him by, but in his selfishness, Naruto had been left an orphan. As if that wasn't enough, he went ahead and revealed his status as a Jinchuriki to the entire village, letting him bear the brunt of the emotional torture that the village continued to pile upon him to this day.

But it didn't hurt him any more. He had steeled his heart long ago. Now, it only furthered his resolve. It only acted as a reminder that he did not have a place in this rotten village. That he would have to forge his own way in the world.

He was denied a family right from the get go, and even Kakashi, who would have become a brother to him, was put under a genjutsu to keep him away.

And then when he thought he might have gained some semblance of a family among his long lost relation to the Uchiha clan, Konoha brought it all crashing down to the ground without a second thought. Danzo had so shamelessly asked him to kill his teacher and the one who he was as close as he could have been to, and it was then that the first thoughts of defecting came to Naruto's mind. He had run, run and run, until he found him, already on the verge of death, breathing his last so far from help that he knew all was lost. And then, Shisui had all but ordered him to take his eye to Danzo, to make sure he didn't make him an enemy, else his days in Konoha would be numbered.

Then came the hammer that buried the final nail in Konoha's coffin. The Uchiha massacre. He had seen how hours had passed and not a single Konoha ninja had approached the Uchiha District to see what was going on. Not a single effing soul. And then how quickly Danzo seemed to take advantage of the situation to recruit the remaining Uchiha children into his little army.

He knew why the third kept Root in existence. Because he had an image to maintain. Because his false image of kind grandfather hid the true visage of ruthless dictatorship that he truly possessed. And so, Danzo had an open playing field to strengthen his power base.

There were still so many pieces to this puzzle that he didn't quite comprehend, but what he did understand was that he had little to no friends here, and he had no intention of begging for the village's friendship.

Naruto was knocked out of memory lane when a scream echoed out from behind him. He instantly turned around to see a pair of attackers wearing breathing masks reducing Kakashi-sensei to paste, and then moving on to Kiyomi. By the time he drew his tanto and turned on his Sharingan - which was hidden behind a set of Fuuinjutsu enhanced lenses he had designed to make his eyes look blue even when he was using the Uchiha bloodline – Kiyomi had already kicked away one of them and gone off in pursuit while the other engaged Sasuke. He himself stood by the client, waiting to see what would happen.

In a pincer move, the pair – who were connected by a long chain that extended from a gauntlet on each of their arms – abandoned their respective opponents and made for Naruto and the bridge builder. When they had reached a distance of three meters, Naruto drew a readymade sealing tag from his hip pocket and slammed it onto the ground with his left hand, holding a ram sign with his right as he channeled chakra to power the seal. Immediately, a wall of reddish orange flames sprang to life between them. The two masked assailants were offered no warning as they ran headfirst into the flames, screams of agony escaping their bodies as their front sides were burnt badly before the relatively low powered barrier came down, depositing the badly scorched bodies on the forest floor before the blond.

They would be scarred for life, if they survived. Just then, Kakashi strolled out from behind a tree like he was taking a walk in the park.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Kiyomi exclaimed. "You're okay!"

"I'm glad to see you weren't actually taken out by this riffraff."

"Who are they?" Sasuke asked, curiously.

"Naruto. Can you identify these two?"

Naruto thought for a moment, then placed his index finger on a spot on is upper left forearm, and in a cloud of smoke, a thick book the size of a dictionary appeared. Flipping through the book expertly as if he knew it like the back of his own hand, he opened to the correct page, and after comparing their pictures with the real deal, began to recite from the book as if he knew it completely by heart.

"Gozu and Meizu, dubbed the Demon Brothers. Rogue chunin from Kiri. Low B-Rank threat. Worth 2 million ryo a piece, alive. Wanted for information on the whereabouts of Zabuza Momochi, who they are known to work under."

"Zabuza? Then I fear that this mission just got far more dangerous. Team, your first C-Rank mission may just have been bumed up to A-Rank!"

 **And Cut**

 **OK, guys, don't kill me. It's been a long time, and I hear there was a false alarm too, that said I had updated. Sorry for that. I'd been really busy with exams, and now my whole day goes by in a blur-inducing internship. I don't know how I squeezed out the time to write this, but I think it was one or two of those reviewers that said they wanted more, and bang, I'm on my laptop.**

 **And I seem to have a problem with making things come out much lamer than they sound when I think them up in my head. It saddens me, really.**

 **Anyway, if you enjoyed the chapter, let me know. If not, well, you might as well go ahead and enjoy the rest of the summer, whatever few days may be left of it.**

 **I'm out.**

 **Own Jutsu:**

 **Futon: Hageshi Kaze (Wind Release: Torrential Wind)**

 **A-Rank Wind Technique. Sends high powered torrents of wind blowing across the area, in the form of a wide area twister, combing both the blunt force and cutting sharp characters of the wind element.**

 **Raiton: Kaminari Saji! (Lightning Release: Lightning Surge)**

 **B-Rank Lightning Technique. Sends a current of electricity racing across the ground in all directions.**


End file.
